In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Agrius convolvuli (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) and compared it with previously sequenced mitogenomes of lepidopteran species. The mitogenome was a circular molecule, 15 349 base pairs (bp) long, containing 37 genes. The order and orientation of genes in the A. convolvuli mitogenome were similar to those in sequenced mitogenomes of other lepidopterans. All 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) were initiated by ATN codons, except for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene, which seemed to be initiated by the codon CGA, as observed in other lepidopterans. Three of the 13 PCGs had the incomplete termination codon T, while the remainder terminated with TAA. Additionally, the codon distributions of the 13 PCGs revealed that Asn, Ile, Leu2, Lys, Phe, and Tyr were the most frequently used codon families. All transfer RNAs were folded into the expected cloverleaf structure except for tRNA(Ser)(AGN), which lacked a stable dihydrouridine arm. The length of the adenine (A) + thymine (T)-rich region was 331 bp. This region included the motif ATAGA followed by a 19-bp poly-T stretch and a microsatellite-like (TA)8 element next to the motif ATTTA. Phylogenetic analyses (maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods) showed that A. convolvuli belongs to the family Sphingidae.

Hornworms are good assay organisms for leaf toxins, and can be raised on an artificial medium ("chow"), consisting of corn meal, soy flour, dry milk, yeast and other additives and preservatives. The hornworm assay is less useful in ecological and toxicological research, but is very useful in learning about experimental design and hypothesis…

Hornworms are good assay organisms for leaf toxins, and can be raised on an artificial medium ("chow"), consisting of corn meal, soy flour, dry milk, yeast and other additives and preservatives. The hornworm assay is less useful in ecological and toxicological research, but is very useful in learning about experimental design and hypothesis…

The neuronal pathways involved in the processing of sex pheromone information were investigated in the hawkmoth Agrius convolvuli (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), which uses (E,E)-11,13-hexadecadienal (E11,E13-16:Ald) as the single sex pheromone component. We first clarified the anatomical organization of the antennal lobe of A. convolvuli. Subsequently, central neurons in the antennal lobe that responded to E11,E13-16:Ald were identified. The dendritic processes of these neurons were confined within a specific glomerulus (cumulus) in the antennal lobe. The axons of these neurons projected to the inferior lateral protocerebrum and mushroom body calyx. Although the anatomical organization and morphology of individual neurons in A. convolvuli were similar to other species in the superfamily Bombycoidea, the use of cumulus as the single pathway for sex pheromone information processing was characteristic to this species.

Moths can perform various flight maneuvers by the contraction of some direct and indirect flight muscles. Multi-channel recording from these flight muscles and analysis of their interaction is very important for understanding insect flight motor system. In this study, we developed a dual-channel FM transmitter for acquisition of muscle potentials, with which a male hawkmoth (Agrius convolvuli) could fly freely and perform pheromone triggered zigzag flight in a wind tunnel. The transmitter weighs only 0.25 g including single battery, has a 5 m receivable range and works for more than 30 min. Doubling channels was achieved by providing two oscillators (the carrier frequencies were 82 and 85 MHz), and interference between them was overcome by buffer amplifiers and independent reference electrodes for each channel. With this transmitter, we could acquire muscle potentials from some direct and indirect muscles during free flight. Combined with simultaneous high-speed video analysis, we observed distinct changes of motor patterns during takeoff. Our radio-telemetric system allows acquisition of actual information from freely flying moths; such information will lead to further progress in the study of insect flight.

Toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis spores to the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, is described. The numbers of larvae killed were in relation to spore dry weight. At a surface application of 6.8 ng/cm2, there was an 85 percent survival, but less than 50 percent survived at 68.2 ng/cm2. Striking similarity of spores to parasporal crystals is revealed by slope of mortality curves, inhibition of stadial growth, and 50 percent lethal dose values based on protein content. PMID:623457

When fed ad libitum (AL), ectothermic animals usually grow faster and have higher metabolic rate at higher ambient temperature. However, if food supply is limited, there is an energy tradeoff between growth and metabolism. Here we hypothesize that for ectothermic animals under food restriction (FR), high temperature will lead to a high metabolic rate, but growth will slow down to compensate for the high metabolism. We measure the rates of growth and metabolism of 4 cohorts of 5th instar hornworms (Manduca sexta larvae) reared at 2 levels of food supply (AL and FR) and 2 temperatures (20 and 30 °C). Our results show that, compared to the cohorts reared at 20 °C, the ones reared at 30 °C have high metabolic rates under both AL and FR conditions, but a high growth rate under AL and a low growth rate under FR, supporting this hypothesis.

The potato is one of the most popular vegetables worldwide and is the most important vegetable crop in the United States, accounting for nearly one-third of per-capita vegetable consumption. Potatoes can be prepared in many ways, including baking, boiling, roasting, frying, and microwaving, allowin...

Pandora and Prometheus, the shepherding moons of the F ring, orbit inside and outside the thin ring. The elongated, potato-like shapes of the two moons are both visible in this image taken by NASA Cassini spacecraft.

Growing animals must alter their energy budget in the face of environmental changes and prioritize the energy allocation to metabolism for life-sustaining requirements and energy deposition in new biomass growth. We hypothesize that when food availability is low, larvae of holometabolic insects with a short development stage (relative to the low food availability period) prioritize biomass growth at the expense of metabolism. Driven by this hypothesis, we develop a simple theoretical model, based on conservation of energy and allometric scaling laws, for understanding the dynamic energy budget of growing larvae under food restriction. We test the hypothesis by manipulative experiments on fifth instar hornworms at three temperatures. At each temperature, food restriction increases the scaling power of growth rate but decreases that of metabolic rate, as predicted by the hypothesis. During the fifth instar, the energy budgets of larvae change dynamically. The free-feeding larvae slightly decrease the energy allocated to growth as body mass increases and increase the energy allocated to life sustaining. The opposite trends were observed in food restricted larvae, indicating the predicted prioritization in the energy budget under food restriction. We compare the energy budgets of a few endothermic and ectothermic species and discuss how different life histories lead to the differences in the energy budgets under food restriction.

Growing animals must alter their energy budget in the face of environmental changes and prioritize the energy allocation to metabolism for life-sustaining requirements and energy deposition in new biomass growth. We hypothesize that when food availability is low, larvae of holometabolic insects with a short development stage (relative to the low food availability period) prioritize biomass growth at the expense of metabolism. Driven by this hypothesis, we develop a simple theoretical model, based on conservation of energy and allometric scaling laws, for understanding the dynamic energy budget of growing larvae under food restriction. We test the hypothesis by manipulative experiments on fifth instar hornworms at three temperatures. At each temperature, food restriction increases the scaling power of growth rate but decreases that of metabolic rate, as predicted by the hypothesis. During the fifth instar, the energy budgets of larvae change dynamically. The free-feeding larvae slightly decrease the energy allocated to growth as body mass increases and increase the energy allocated to life sustaining. The opposite trends were observed in food restricted larvae, indicating the predicted prioritization in the energy budget under food restriction. We compare the energy budgets of a few endothermic and ectothermic species and discuss how different life histories lead to the differences in the energy budgets under food restriction.

The hornworm Manduca sexta exhibits a defensive strike to noxious assaults, a response that is robust and is easily observed by experimenters. Von Frey filaments and methods typical for studying nociception in other animals were used to assess the strike response in M. sexta. A series of von Frey filaments was applied to the body wall in ascending order and the data generated were used to determine the strike threshold by (i) the up-and-down method, (ii) the first response method, and (iii) the simplified up-and-down order method (SUDO). The effect of a noxious pinch on strike threshold was assessed. To our knowledge none of these methods has been used on M. sexta previously, making the use of the up-and-down and SUDO methods the first in an invertebrate. The use of the first response method has been used in other invertebrates, and the method appears equally suited to M. sexta. All three methods were successful in monitoring the threshold sensitivity to touch, which was lowered (sensitized) by tissue damage induced with a pinch. Sensitization lasted 19h. All three methods of assessing nociception were successfully applied to quantify the defensive strike response in M. sexta, although the SUDO method required empirical assessment of which filament to start the test sequence with. The results revealed both short- and long-term sensitization. These methods should prove to be useful for quantifying sensitization in M. sexta. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Manduca sexta, known as the tobacco hornworm or Carolina sphinx moth, is a lepidopteran insect that is used extensively as a model system for research in insect biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, development, and immunity. One important benefit of this species as an experimental model is its extremely large size, reaching more than 10 g in the larval stage. M. sexta larvae feed on solanaceous plants and thus must tolerate a substantial challenge from plant allelochemicals, including nicotine. We report the sequence and annotation of the M. sexta genome, and a survey of gene expression in various tissues and developmental stages. The Msex_1.0 genome assembly resulted in a total genome size of 419.4 Mbp. Repetitive sequences accounted for 25.8% of the assembled genome. The official gene set is comprised of 15,451 protein-coding genes, of which 2498 were manually curated. Extensive RNA-seq data from many tissues and developmental stages were used to improve gene models and for insights into gene expression patterns. Genome wide synteny analysis indicated a high level of macrosynteny in the Lepidoptera. Annotation and analyses were carried out for gene families involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, including apoptosis, vacuole sorting, growth and development, structures of exoskeleton, egg shells, and muscle, vision, chemosensation, ion channels, signal transduction, neuropeptide signaling, neurotransmitter synthesis and transport, nicotine tolerance, lipid metabolism, and immunity. This genome sequence, annotation, and analysis provide an important new resource from a well-studied model insect species and will facilitate further biochemical and mechanistic experimental studies of many biological systems in insects. PMID:27522922

Manduca sexta, known as the tobacco hornworm or Carolina sphinx moth, is a lepidopteran insect that is used extensively as a model system for research in insect biochemistry, physiology, neurobiology, development, and immunity. One important benefit of this species as an experimental model is its extremely large size, reaching more than 10 g in the larval stage. M. sexta larvae feed on solanaceous plants and thus must tolerate a substantial challenge from plant allelochemicals, including nicotine. We report the sequence and annotation of the M. sexta genome, and a survey of gene expression in various tissues and developmental stages. The Msex_1.0 genome assembly resulted in a total genome size of 419.4 Mbp. Repetitive sequences accounted for 25.8% of the assembled genome. The official gene set is comprised of 15,451 protein-coding genes, of which 2498 were manually curated. Extensive RNA-seq data from many tissues and developmental stages were used to improve gene models and for insights into gene expression patterns. Genome wide synteny analysis indicated a high level of macrosynteny in the Lepidoptera. Annotation and analyses were carried out for gene families involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, including apoptosis, vacuole sorting, growth and development, structures of exoskeleton, egg shells, and muscle, vision, chemosensation, ion channels, signal transduction, neuropeptide signaling, neurotransmitter synthesis and transport, nicotine tolerance, lipid metabolism, and immunity. This genome sequence, annotation, and analysis provide an important new resource from a well-studied model insect species and will facilitate further biochemical and mechanistic experimental studies of many biological systems in insects.

The prophenoloxidase (proPO) activation system is an important defense mechanism in arthropods, and activation of proPO to active phenoloxidase (PO) involves a serine proteinase cascade. Here, we report the purification and characterization of a small cationic protein CP8 from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, which can stimulate proPO activation. BLAST search showed that Manduca CP8 is similar to a fungal proteinase inhibitor-1 (AmFPI-1), an inducible serine proteinase inhibitor-1 (ISPI-1), and other small cationic proteins with unknown functions. However, we showed that Manduca CP8 did not inhibit proteinase activity, but stimulated proPO activation in plasma. When small amount (0.1μg) of purified native CP8 or BSA was added to cell-free plasma samples and incubated for 20 min, low PO activity was observed in both groups. But significantly higher PO activity was observed in the CP8-group than in the BSA-group when more proteins (0.5μg) were added and incubated for 20 min. However, when the plasma samples were incubated with proteins for 30 min, high PO activity was observed in both the CP8 and BSA groups regardless the amount of proteins added. Moreover, when PO in the plasma was pre-activated with Micrococcus luteus, addition of CP8 did not have an effect on PO activity, and CP8/bacteria mixture did not stimulate PO activity to a higher level than did BSA/bacteria. These results suggest that CP8 helps activate proPO more rapidly at the initial stage. CP8 mRNA was specifically expressed in fat body and its mRNA level decreased when larvae were injected with saline or bacteria. However, CP8 protein concentration in hemolymph did not change significantly in larvae injected with saline or microorganisms. PMID:19162182

The prophenoloxidase (proPO) activation system is an important defense mechanism in arthropods, and activation of proPO to active phenoloxidase (PO) involves a serine proteinase cascade. Here, we report the purification and characterization of a small cationic protein CP8 from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, which can stimulate proPO activation. BLAST search showed that Manduca CP8 is similar to a fungal proteinase inhibitor-1 (AmFPI-1), an inducible serine proteinase inhibitor-1 (ISPI-1), and other small cationic proteins with unknown functions. However, we showed that Manduca CP8 did not inhibit proteinase activity, but stimulated proPO activation in plasma. When small amount (0.1 microg) of purified native CP8 or BSA was added to cell-free plasma samples and incubated for 20 min, low PO activity was observed in both groups. But significantly higher PO activity was observed in the CP8-group than in the BSA-group when more proteins (0.5 microg) were added and incubated for 20 min. However, when the plasma samples were incubated with proteins for 30 min, high PO activity was observed in both the CP8 and BSA groups regardless of the amount of proteins added. Moreover, when PO in the plasma was pre-activated with Micrococcus luteus, addition of CP8 did not have an effect on PO activity, and CP8/bacteria mixture did not stimulate PO activity to a higher level than did BSA/bacteria. These results suggest that CP8 helps activate proPO more rapidly at the initial stage. CP8 mRNA was specifically expressed in fat body and its mRNA level decreased when larvae were injected with saline or bacteria. However, CP8 protein concentration in hemolymph did not change significantly in larvae injected with saline or microorganisms.

The insect cuticle is a unique material that covers the exterior of the animal as well as lining the foregut, hindgut, and tracheae. It offers protection from predators and desiccation, defines body shape, and serves as an attachment site for internal organs and muscle. It has demonstrated remarkable variations in hardness, flexibility and elasticity, all the while being light weight, which allows for ease of movement and flight. It is composed primarily of chitin, proteins, catecholamines, and lipids. Proteomic analyses of cuticle from different life stages and species of insects has allowed for a more detailed examination of the protein content and how it relates to cuticle mechanical properties. It is now recognized that several groups of cuticular proteins exist and that they can be classified according to conserved amino acid sequence motifs. We have annotated the genome of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, for genes that encode putative cuticular proteins that belong to seven different groups: proteins with a Rebers and Riddiford motif (CPR), proteins analogous to peritrophins (CPAP), proteins with a tweedle motif (CPT), proteins with a 44 amino acid motif (CPF), proteins that are CPF-like (CPFL), proteins with an 18 amino acid motif (18 aa), and proteins with two to three copies of a C-X5-C motif (CPCFC). In total we annotated 248 genes, of which 207 belong to the CPR family, the most for any insect genome annotated to date. Additionally, we discovered new members of the CPAP family and determined that orthologous genes are present in other insects. We established orthology between the M. sexta and Bombyx mori genes and identified duplication events that occurred after separation of the two species. Finally, we utilized 52 RNAseq libraries to ascertain gene expression profiles that revealed commonalities and differences between different tissues and developmental stages.

A cysteine protease inhibitor (CPI) with an apparent molecular mass of 11.5 kDa was purified from larval hemolymph of the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) by gel filtration of Sephadex G-50 followed by hydrophobic and ion-exchange column chromatographies. The purified cysteine proteinase inhibitor, ...

Metamorphosis provides a unique condition for studying the role of gravity in development. Formation of new organs in a previously existing organism requires a highly active period of turnover of amino acids and proteins, and of changes in the endocrine profile. Furthermore, metamorphosis offers the advantage of studying a self-contained biological system. The tobacco hornworm provides a suitable species to study the effect of altered gravitational environment on invertebrate development. This species has been one of the most thoroughly investigated organisms in a variety of aspects of insect biology. M. sexta pharate adults can provide significant amounts of material with which to work, thus facilitating the study of metabolic aspects of adult development. During wandering, the period immediately following cessation of larval feeding, the larva burrows into the soil to form a pupation chamber. Despite burrowing down 25 to 30 cm, the insects reorient themselves to a slightly head-up (10 +/- 1 degree) position. Since light and temperature are not factors in this process, the larvae must sense the gravity vector. In our ground-based studies we had assessed whether developing adults might be sensitive to their gravitational environment by orienting pupae in a vertical head-up position within 24 to 48 h after pupal ecdysis. Our ground-based findings formed the foundation for determining which parameters would be evaluated in developing Manduca following spaceflight. Measurements were to include: (1) extent of development by all of the insects, (2) analysis of hemolymph obtained from half of the insects postflight for ecdysteroid, amino acid, urea, ammonia and trehalose concentrations, (3) further development of the other half of the insects to adult (moths), (4) analysis of the flight muscle protein content of the adults. Based on the first flight attempt in July, 1995, we modified the BRIC hardware to accommodate the insects. Our studies after BRIC-04 showed that

Hexamerins are large hemolymph-proteins that accumulate during the late larval stages of insects. Hexamerins have emerged from hemocyanin, but have lost the ability to bind oxygen. Hexamerins are mainly considered as storage proteins for non-feeding stages, but may also have other functions, e.g. in cuticle formation, transport and immune response. The genome of the hornworm Manduca sexta harbors six hexamerin genes. Two of them code for arylphorins (Msex2.01690, Msex2.15504) and two genes correspond to a methionine-rich hexamerin (Msex2.10735) and a moderately methionine-rich hexamerin (Msex2.01694), respectively. Two other genes do not correspond to any known hexamerin and distantly resemble the arylphorins (Msex2.01691, Msex2.01693). Five of the six hexamerin genes are clustered within ∼45 kb on scaffold 00023, which shows conserved synteny in various lepidopteran genomes. The methionine-rich hexamerin gene is located at a distinct site. M. sexta and other Lepidoptera have lost the riboflavin-binding hexamerin. With the exception of Msex2.01691, which displays low mRNA levels throughout the life cycle, all hexamerins are most highly expressed during pre-wandering phase of the 5th larval instar of M. sexta, supporting their role as storage proteins. Notably, Msex2.01691 is most highly expressed in the brain, suggesting a divergent function. Phylogenetic analyses showed that hexamerin evolution basically follows insect systematics. Lepidoptera display an unparalleled diversity of hexamerins, which exceeds that of other hexapod orders. In contrast to previous analyses, the lepidopteran hexamerins were found monophyletic. Five distinct types of hexamerins have been identified in this order, which differ in terms of amino acid composition and evolutionary history: i. the arylphorins, which are rich in aromatic amino acids (∼20% phenylalanine and tyrosine), ii. the distantly related arylphorin-like hexamerins, iii. the methionine-rich hexamerins, iv. the

We studied the interaction between plants (horsenettle; Solanum carolinense) and herbivorous insects (flea beetles; Epitrix spp., and tobacco hornworm; Manduca sexta) by focusing on three questions: (1) Does variation in nitrogen availability affect leaf chemistry as predicted by the carbon-nutrient balance (CNB) hypothesis? (2) Does variation in plant treatment and leaf chemistry affect insect feeding? (3) Is there an interaction between the insect herbivores that is mediated by variation in leaf chemistry? For three successive years (1998-2001), we grew a set of clones of 10 maternal plants under two nitrogen treatments and two water treatments. For each plant in the summer of 2000, we assayed herbivory by hornworms in both indoor (detached leaf) and outdoor (attached leaf) assays, as well as ambient flea beetle damage. Estimates of leaf material consumed were made via analysis of digitized leaf images. We also assayed leaves for total protein, phenolic, and glycoalkaloid content, and for trypsin inhibitor, polyphenol oxidase, and peroxidase activity. Despite strong effects of nitrogen treatment on growth and reproduction, only total protein responded as predicted by CNB. Leaf phenolic levels were increased by nitrogen treatment, polyphenol oxidase activity was decreased, and other leaf parameters were unaffected. Neither hornworm nor flea beetle herbivory could be related to plant treatment or genotype or to variation in any of the six leaf chemical parameters. A negative relationship between flea beetle and hornworm herbivory was found, but was not apparently mediated by any of the measured leaf chemicals. Because leaf resistance was maintained in low nitrogen plants at the apparent expense of growth and reproduction, our results support the concept of a fitness cost of defense, as predicted by the optimal defense hypothesis.

Potato production has increased dramatically in recent years in Thailand. Consumer demand for fresh and processed potatoes has driven this trend. Most potatoes are produced in northern Thailand in either double cropping highland zones or as a single winter crop following rice in lowland regions. Maj...

Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) plays an essential role in regulation of innate immunity. In mammals, NF-κB factors can form homodimers and heterodimers to activate gene expression. In insects, three NF-κB factors, Dorsal, Dif and Relish, have been identified to activate antimicrobial peptide (AMP) gene expression. However, it is not clear whether Dorsal (or Dif) and Relish can form heterodimers. Here we report the identification and functional analysis of a Dorsal homologue (MsDorsal) and two Relish short isoforms (MsRel2A and MsRel2B) from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. Both MsRel2A and MsRel2B contain only a Rel homology domain (RHD) and lack the ankyrin-repeat inhibitory domain. Overexpression of the RHD domains of MsDorsal and MsRel2 in Drosophila melanogaster S2 and Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cells can activate AMP gene promoters from M. sexta and D. melanogaster. We for the first time confirmed the interaction between MsDorsal-RHD and MsRel2-RHD, and suggesting that Dorsal and Rel2 may form heterodimers. More importantly, co-expression of MsDorsal-RHD with MsRel2-RHD suppressed activation of several M. sexta AMP gene promoters. Our results suggest that the short MsRel2 isoforms may form heterodimers with MsDorsal as a novel mechanism to prevent over-activation of antimicrobial peptides. PMID:26847920

Insecticyanin, a blue biliprotein isolated from the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta L., is involved in insect camouflage. Its three-dimensional structure has now been solved to 2.6 A resolution using the techniques of multiple isomorphous replacement, non-crystallographic symmetry averaging about a local 2-fold rotation axis and solvent flattening. All 189 amino acids have been fitted to the electron density map. The map clearly shows that insecticyanin is a tetramer with one of its molecular 2-fold axes coincident to a crystallographic dyad. The individual subunits have overall dimensions of 44 A X 37 A X 40 A and consist primarily of an eight-stranded anti-parallel beta-barrel flanked on one side by a 4.5-turn alpha-helix. Interestingly the overall three-dimensional fold of the insecticyanin subunit shows remarkable similarity to the structural motifs of bovine beta-lactoglobulin and the human serum retinol-binding protein. The electron density attributable to the chromophore is unambiguous and shows that it is indeed the gamma-isomer of biliverdin. The biliverdin lies towards the open end of the beta-barrel with its two propionate side chains pointing towards the solvent and it adopts a rather folded conformation, much like a heme. Images Fig. 1. Fig. 3. PMID:3608987

The content in moisture, fat, protein, carbohydrate, fibre and vitamin C was analyzed in three commercial types of potatoes: sulfited (treated with E223), frozen potatoes (pre-fried) and fresh potatoes (not processed). The composition of sulfited potatoes does not usually appear in food composition tables. Our results showed significant differences in the content of carbohydrates and fibre between sulfited and fresh potatoes. The content of vitamin C in sulfited potatoes, which is similar to that of frozen potatoes, was shown to be approximately half of that found in fresh potatoes.

cDNA encoding pheromone-binding protein (PBP), the major soluble protein in olfactory sensilla of male moths, has been cloned from the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. A study of the developmental time course of PBP reveals that it is first synthesized just prior to eclosion and that the percentage of antennal mRNA encoding PBP shifts from zero to about 20% at that time. PBP is also found in sensilla from female M. sexta antennae. No amino acid sequence homology is observed between PBP and the vertebrate odorant-binding protein. Images PMID:3200861

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is the most common method for the incorporation of foreign genes into the genome of potato as well as many other species in the Solanaceae family. This chapter describes protocols for the genetic transformation of three species of potato: Solanum tuberosum subsp. tuberosum (Desiréé), S. tuberosum subsp. andigenum (Blue potato), and S. tuberosum subsp. andigena using internodal segments as explants.

We determined the changes in hemocyte titer and in the abundance of hemocyte types of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta during the fourth and fifth larval stadium and the beginning of the pupal stadium. As we analyzed the samples of individual insects at daily intervals, we were able to correlate phenotypical features, body weight, as well as total protein content and lysozyme activity in the hemolymph with the observations on hemocytes. In the course of the fifth larval stadium, the hemocyte titer decreased slightly and declined further after pupation. Using calculated values for total hemocyte numbers, females had about five times and males three times more hemocytes in the circulating population at the beginning of the wandering stage (in the middle of the fifth larval stadium) than immediately after the last larval--larval molt (from the fourth to the fifth larval stadium). This sexual difference was mainly due to an increase in the number of plasmatocytes, which was more prominent in females than in males. Granular cells were dominant in early fifth larval stadium while plasmatocytes were the most abundant cells in pupae. Oenocytoids and spherule cells disappeared during the wandering stage. Lysozyme activity in the hemolymph rose to a maximum during the wandering stage, with females having lysozyme values twice as high as those for males. These changes in lysozyme activity, however, did not correlate with the increase of total hemolymph protein titer which occurred already at the beginning of the wandering stage. We postulate that changes in hemocyte titers are under direct hormonal control, which has to be proven in future experiments. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

We develop a theoretical model from an energetic viewpoint for unraveling the entangled effects of metabolic and biosynthetic rates on oxidative cellular damage accumulation during animal's growth, and test the model by experiments in hornworms. The theoretical consideration suggests that most of the cellular damages caused by the oxidative metabolism can be repaired by the efficient maintenance mechanisms, if the energy required by repair is unlimited. However, during growth a considerable amount of energy is allocated to the biosynthesis, which entails tradeoffs with the requirements of repair. Thus, the model predicts that cellular damage is more influenced by the biosynthetic rate than the metabolic rate. To test the prediction, we induced broad variations in metabolic and biosynthetic rates in hornworms, and assayed the lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyl. We found that the increase in the cellular damage was mainly caused by the increase in biosynthetic rate, and the variations in metabolic rate had negligible effect. The oxidative stress hypothesis of aging suggests that high metabolism leads to high cellular damage and short lifespan. However, some empirical studies showed that varying biosynthetic rate, rather than metabolic rate, changes animal's lifespan. The conflicts between the empirical evidence and the hypothesis are reconciled by this study.

Evaluation of the inhibitory effect of a series of secondary plant compounds including steroidal alkaloids and glycoalkaloids on larvae of the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, was investigated. Larval growth was inhibited on artificial diets containing 1 mumol g-1 diet of the glycoalkaloids solamargine, solasonine and tomatine, whereas the corresponding aglycones solasodine and tomatidine, and also tomatidenol, were inactive. The inhibitory effect of solamargine and tomatine, but not of solasonine, was completely abolished by addition of 1 mumol g-1 diet cholesterol and/or sitosterol. Nonetheless, synthetic cholesteryl tomatide displayed significant activity at 2 mumol g-1 diet. Parallel studies with the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, showed marked inhibitory activity of tomatine at a dietary concentration of 1 mumol g-1, whereas the other compounds did not affect sterol metabolism or larval development. An appraisal of the factors influencing the mode of action of the active steroidal glycoalkaloids is attempted.

During industrialization in agriculture, many farming machines have been introduced. It is well-known that farming is a dangerous workplace and that farm machinery cause many serious accidents every year. Four cases of accidents with potato harvesters are discussed. In three of four cases the farmers were injured while cleaning the machine without stopping it, which probably was the main cause of the accidents. Farmers are in general not careful enough when using farm machinery. Every year, farmers in Denmark are severely invalided in accidents with potato harvesters. A strategy to lower the accidents is proposed: 1. Information of farmers, farmer schools, machine constructors and importers about mechanisms of injury. 2. A better education of farmers in using potato harvesters (and other farming machines). 3. Better fencing of the potato harvesters. 4. If possibly constructional changes in the potato harvesters so things will not get stuck, or so that the machine will stop if things stuck. 5. Installation of switches on potato harvesters, which can be reached from all positions, stopping the machines immediately, or a remote switch control carried by the farmer.

The cultivated potato of world commerce, Solanum tuberosum, is one of the primary crops worldwide, forming a basic food and source of primary income for many societies. Wild and cultivated potatoes form the germplasm base for international breeding efforts to improve potato in the face of variety o...

Every phase of the production cycle impacts the sustainability of potato. Potato physiology determines how genetically encoded developmental attributes interact with local environmental conditions as modified through agricultural practice to produce a perishable crop. In this chapter we highlight ho...

The potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli) is a Hemipteran pest of solanaceous plants and limits potato and tomato production by the transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum. Genomic information on the potato psyllid is limited but is vital in developing appropriate management strategi...

Potato has a variety of reproductive uniquenesses besides its clonal propagation by tubers. These traits are controlled by a different kind of genetic control. The reproductive information has been applied to enable interspecific hybridization to enhance valuable traits, such as disease and pest resistances, from the tuber-bearing Solanum gene pool. While progress has been made in potato breeding, many resources have been invested due to the requirements of large populations and long time frame. This is not only due to the general pitfalls in plant breeding, but also due to the complexity of polyploid genetics. Tetraploid genetics is the most prominent aspect associated with potato breeding. Genetic maps and markers have contributed to potato breeding, and genome information further elucidates questions in potato evolution and supports comprehensive potato breeding. Challenges yet remain on recognizing intellectual property rights to breeding and germplasm, and also on regulatory aspects to incorporate modern biotechnology for increasing genetic variation in potato breeding. PMID:25931980

There are specific environments where potatoes contain much larger amounts of lead than is generally realised. Nevertheless, if we accept the hypothesis that human adults are only likely to be harmed if they absorb more than 100 micrograms of lead daily for extended periods10 then only in rare instances are they apt to be adversely affected by eating potatoes. Medical data suggest that where children are involved the acceptable amounts of lead are significantly less. However, where potatoes do show evidence of contamination by virtue of their high lead content, the possibility of more general contamination should be investigated. The intake of lead from potatoes, if supplemented by lead provided from other foodstuffs, from air, and possibly from water, can well reach unacceptable amounts. Patterson's12 claim that most people in industrialised countries are suffering from a chronic lead insult, does seem justified but, because of the remarkable ability of humans to adapt to some conditions, but how much this insult constitutes a menace to heath must be dealt with by medical men. PMID:1177205

Potato glycoalkaloids were extracted from potato sprout and then analyzed to determine their purity by using TLC and HPLC methods and compare with pure alpha-Solanine and alpha-Chaconine of Sigma. The result indicated that the purity of potato glycoalkaloids is 78. 31%, which contains 73.64% alpha-Solanine and 4.67% alpha-Chaconine. The LD50 of mice was 44.721 +/- 5.860 4 mg/kg. In order to determine the toxicity and teratogenicity of potato glycoalkaloids, the effect of potato glycoalkaloids on Kunming pregnant mice were studied. The results showed that: (1) potato glycoalkaloids have teratogenic effects on embryos of mice. It could induce neural tube defects (NTDs), and may be an important teratogen of NTDs. (2) potato glycoalkaloids have embryo toxicity. It could cause the death of embryos and result in absorbed and dead fetuses. (3) potato glycoalkaloids could evidently affect the development of embryos and lead to intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). An interesting phenomena which just like the clinical manifestation of miscarriage in human being was noticed. If potato glycoalkaloids were given to the pregnant mice on the 5th or 6th day of gestation intraabdominally, vaginal bleeding and abortion would occur, and this has not been reported yet. The animal model of NTDs in this experiments supported our hypothesis that sprouted potato could be a teratogen of NTDs.

The larval hemolymph of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, contains a carrier protein that binds specifically and with high affinity the juvenile hormone, an important regulator of insect development. This protein serves to transport the hormone and to protect it from the action of degradative enzymes during early larval stages. Using hemolymph from the last larval stage, we have isolated a pure carrier protein using acetone precipitation, gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography, and preparative isoelectric focusing. Gel filtration, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate, and equilibrium ultracentrifugation established that the carrier protein is a single chain polypeptide of approximately 28,000 daltons. The amino acid composition is unexceptional, and no evidence for hexosamine has been obtained. An ion exchange filter disc assay method was used to determine the formation of the complex between the carrier protein and isotopically labeled juvenile hormone. With this technique it was shown that each carrier protein binds one hormone molecule with a dissociation constant of 4.4 +/- 0.2 X 10(-7) M at 0 degrees.

The insect molting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) plays a central role in regulating gene expression during development and metamorphosis. In many Lepidoptera, the pro-hormone 3-dehydroecdysone (3DE), synthesized from cholesterol in the prothoracic gland, is rapidly converted to ecdysone (E) by a hemolymph reductase, and E is subsequently converted to 20E in various peripheral target tissues. Recently, four Drosophila melanogaster P450 enzymes, encoded by specific Halloween genes, were cloned and functionally characterized as mediating the last hydroxylation steps leading to 20E. We extended this work to the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta, an established model for endocrinological and developmental studies. cDNA clones were obtained for three Manduca orthologs of CYP306A1 (phantom; phm, the 25-hydroxylase), CYP302A1 (disembodied; dib, the 22-hydroxylase) and CYP315A1 (shadow; sad, the 2-hydroxylase), expressed predominantly in the prothoracic gland during the fifth (final) larval instar and during pupal-adult development, with fifth instar mRNA levels closely paralleling the hemolymph ecdysteroid titer. The data indicate that transcriptional regulation of phm, dib and sad plays a role in the developmentally varying steroidogenic capacities of the prothoracic glands during the fifth instar. The consistent expression of the Halloween genes confirms the importance of the prothoracic glands in pupal-adult development. These studies establish Manduca as an excellent model for examining the regulation of the Halloween genes.

A cysteine protease inhibitor (CPI) with an apparent molecular mass of 11.5kDa was purified from larval hemolymph of the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) by gel filtration on Sephadex G-50 followed by hydrophobic and ion-exchange column chromatographies. The purified cysteine proteinase inhibitor, denoted as MsCPI, strongly inhibited the plant cysteine protease, papain, with a K(i) value of 5.5 x 10(-9)M. Nucleotide sequence analysis of a partial cDNA encoding MsCPI indicated that MsCPI consists of 105 amino acid residues in a sequence that is similar to sarcocystatin A from Sarcophaga peregrina. However, northern blotting and PCR analyses using the specific primers of MsCPI suggested that the mRNA encoding MsCPI had a size of more than 12 kilobases, which included at least six tandemly repeated MsCPI segments. MsCPI was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant protein effectively inhibited cysteine proteases from plants as well as from animals such as cathepsins B (K(i), 6.8 nM), H (3.0 nM), and L (0.87 nM). There was no inhibition exhibited toward trypsin, chymotrypsin, subtilisin, pepsin or themolysin.

Even though it comes from a potentially toxic family and may contain solanine-type alkaloids, the potato has risen from a wild food stuff of South American Indians to one of the world's most useful plants and important food source. Toxicity of the tuber commonly seen today is low, with the sprouts and green skin most often involved in toxic exposures. New cultivars may bring about more disease resistance, new tastes, and possibly a smaller solanine content.

Potato virus Y (PVY) strain groups are based on host-response and resistance-gene interactions. The strain groups PVYO, PVYC and PVYN are well-established for the isolates infecting potato in the field. A switch in the emphasis from host response to nucleotide sequence differences in the virus genom...

Conventional potato breeding refers to development of new cultivars from sexual crosses followed by clonal propagation and selection. Nearly all new varieties of potato still emerge from this process free from modern technologies of gene insertion. Conventional breeding remains the most important ...

Wild and cultivated potatoes, Solanum section Petota, is taxonomically difficult, partly because of interspecific hybridization at both the diploid and polyploid levels. The taxonomy of cultivated potatoes is particularly controversial. With DNA sequence data of the GBSSI (waxy) gene we here infer r...

The Russet Burbank potato variety currently occupies first place in acreage planted in North America and is worth in the United States 1.4 billion dollars annually. It is a sport of the Burbank potato which was selected by Luther Burbank in 1873. The ancestry of Burbank stems from a plant introduc...

Trace amounts of acrylamide are found in many foods cooked at high temperatures. Acrylamide in processed potato products is formed from reducing sugars and asparagine and is a product of the Maillard reaction. Processed potato products including fries and chips are relatively high in acrylamide comp...

Potatoes have the highest per capita consumption of any vegetable, a fact which emphasizes their potential to be a key dietary source of health-promoting compounds. Only a fraction of the genetic diversity available in potato wild-species has been incorporated into modern cultivars. LCMS analysis of...

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Potato chips made from dried potatoes. 102.41... Specific Nonstandardized Foods § 102.41 Potato chips made from dried potatoes. (a) The common or usual name of the food product that resembles and is of the same composition as potato chips, except that it is...

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Potato chips made from dried potatoes. 102.41... Specific Nonstandardized Foods § 102.41 Potato chips made from dried potatoes. (a) The common or usual name of the food product that resembles and is of the same composition as potato chips, except that it is...

... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Potato chips made from dried potatoes. 102.41... Specific Nonstandardized Foods § 102.41 Potato chips made from dried potatoes. (a) The common or usual name of the food product that resembles and is of the same composition as potato chips, except that it is...

Leafhoppers and psyllids are important pests of potato worldwide. These insects cause damage to potato by direct feeding or by acting as vectors of potato pathogens. Economically important leafhoppers that attack potato include Empoasca fabae, Macrosteles fascifrons, and Circulifer tenellus. E. faba...

Astroculture is a suite of technologies used to produce and maintain a closed controlled environment for plant growth. The two most recent missions supported growth of potato, dwarf wheat, and mustard plants and provided scientists with the first opportunity to conduct true plant research in space. Light emitting diodes have particular usefulness for plant growth lighting because they emit a much smaller amount of radiant heat than do conventional lighting sources and because they have potential of directing a higher percentage of the emitted light onto plants surfaces. Furthermore, the high output LED's have emissions in the 600-700 nm waveband, which is of highest efficiency for photosynthesis by plants.

Astroculture is a suite of technologies used to produce and maintain a closed controlled environment for plant growth. The two most recent missions supported growth of potato, dwarf wheat, and mustard plants and provided scientists with the first opportunity to conduct true plant research in space. Light emitting diodes have particular usefulness for plant growth lighting because they emit a much smaller amount of radiant heat than do conventional lighting sources and because they have potential of directing a higher percentage of the emitted light onto plants surfaces. Furthermore, the high output LED's have emissions in the 600-700 nm waveband, which is of highest efficiency for photosynthesis by plants.

The midgut of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, actively secretes potassium ions. This can be measured as short-circuit current (I(sc)) with the midgut mounted in an Ussing chamber and superfused with a high-K(+) saline containing as its major osmolyte 166 mM sucrose. Iso-osmotic substitution of sucrose by non-metabolisable compounds (mannitol, urea, NaCl and the polyethylene glycols 200, 400 and 600) led to a dramatic, though reversible, drop in the current. Acarbose, a specific inhibitor of invertase (sucrase) in vertebrates and insects, had no detectable influence on I(sc). Unexpectedly, after replacing sucrose iso-osmotically with the saccharides glucose, fructose, trehalose or raffinose, the K(+) current could no longer be supported. However, all osmolytes smaller than sucrose (except for NaCl), metabolisable or not, initiated an immediate, quite uniform but transient, increase in I(sc) by about 20%, before its eventual decline far below the control value. Hypo-osmotic treatment by omission of sucrose also transiently increased the K(+) current. Small osmolytes substituted for sucrose caused no transient I(sc) stimulation when the epithelium had been challenged before with hypo-osmolarity; however, the eventual decline in I(sc) could not be prevented. Our data seem inconsistent with a role of sucrose as energiser or simple osmolyte. Rather, we discuss here its possible role as analogous to that of sucrose in lower eukaryotes or plants, as an extra- and/or intracellular "compatible osmolyte" that stabilises structure and/or function of the proteins implicated in K(+) transport.

Callus was initiated from explants of tubers of the Norchip cultivar of Solanum tuberosum L. and grown on medium with a single carbon source and without addition of coconut milk, protein hydrolysate, or amino acid. Callus samples were harvested at intervals and compared to mature tubers for which there was good biochemical knowledge. The amino acid spectrum, the glycoalkaloid content, and the properties of the isolated invertase and sucrose synthetase were similar in callus and in tuber. Significantly the level of sucrose synthetase varied with the age of the developing callus just as it did with the age of the developing tuber. Of greater significance, levels of reducing sugars and invertase varied with the age of developing callus and also with time and temperature of storage after the callus has ceased growth. Similar changes occur in intact tubers. Callus and tuber biochemistry differed in the amount of deposited starch and in the absence of potato invertase inhibitor. PMID:16659698

... largest type used in the words “potato chips.” ... Specific Nonstandardized Foods § 102.41 Potato chips made from dried potatoes. (a) The common or usual name of the food product that resembles and is of the same composition as potato chips, except that it...

... largest type used in the words “potato chips.” ... Specific Nonstandardized Foods § 102.41 Potato chips made from dried potatoes. (a) The common or usual name of the food product that resembles and is of the same composition as potato chips, except that it...

The Northwest Potato Variety Development Program using conventional breeding has successfully released more than 40 improved varieties of potato since its inception in 1983. Potato breeders rely primarily on morphological and phenotypic data for selection and breeding of potato cultivars. With the a...

Two experiments were conducted to measure the glycoalkaloid concentrations of potato tubers in response to Colorado potato beetle and manual defoliation. For plants defoliated by Colorado potato beetles, there was a significantly greater production of glycoalkaloids than in control plants and manually defoliated plants for both skin and inner tissue of tubers in experiment 1. In experiment 1, there was a 58.1% and 48.3% increase in glycoalkaloids in skin and inner tissue of tubers, respectively, from plants defoliated at high levels by Colorado potato beetles compared to control plants. In experiment 2, although a significant difference in glycoalkaloid concentration was not observed among the treatments, the skin and inner tissue of tubers from plants defoliated at high levels by Colorado potato beetles increased glycoalkaloid concentration by 23.4% and 14.5%, respectively, compared to tubers from control plants. In experiment 1, the concentration of tuber extract required to reduce Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cellular proliferation by 50% was 10-fold less for the skin versus the inner tissue, indicating that skin tissue was more toxic under the in vitro conditions of this assay.

The white potato is a concentrated source of carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and resistant starch and continues to be the staple food of choice for many cultures. The white potato is also a concentrated source of vitamin C and potassium. Two of the nutrients in white potatoes, dietary fiber and potassium, have been designated as nutrients of concern in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Potatoes are often maligned in nutrition circles because of their suspected link to obesity, and popular potato foods often contain more fat calories than carbohydrate calories. Some food guides do not include potatoes in the vegetable group because of their association with high-fat diets. However, potatoes should be included in the vegetable group because they contribute critical nutrients. All white vegetables, including white potatoes, provide nutrients needed in the diet and deserve a prominent position in food guides.

serving line operations. The unit conformed to dimensions, power requirements, potato mix and water tank capacities, dispensing rates and range as...originally to operate with French’s* granular dehydrated potatoes and incoming water pressure of 1.4 x 10* to 8.6 x 10* Pascals (20 to 125 psig) to...dispense portion controlled servings of mashed potatoes by manually depressing the small or large button shown in Figure 1. Hot water and potatoes

We are positioned to revolutionize potato by reconstructing it as a diploid inbred-line based crop. Currently, potato is an asexually propagated cross-pollinated tetraploid crop, for which breeding methodologies have not changed substantially in 100 years. Current methods for creating new potato cul...

Northern China is a major potato production region, and water-saving measures that can enhance both potato yield and quality play an important role in this region due to general water shortages. Plastic mulch has been used as an effective water-saving measure for potato cultivation in China. This ch...

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), is a vector of the phloem-limited bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (Lso), the putative causal agent of zebra chip disease of potato. Little is known on the mechanisms by which the potato psyllid transmits Lso t...

Potato cannon velocity can be measured with a digitized microphone signal. A microphone is attached to the potato cannon muzzle, and a potato is fired at an aluminum target about 10 m away. Flight time can be determined from the acoustic waveform by subtracting the time in the barrel and time for sound to return from the target. The potato…

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is grown in over 100 countries throughout the world. As a staple food, potato is the fourth most important crop after rice, wheat, and maize, and has historically contributed to food and nutrition security in the world. Global interest in potato increased sharply in 200...

Presents material for a talk and demonstration about the relationship of potato types to their different uses by consumers and processors. Includes background information for the instructor and discussions to accompany classroom exercises. Discusses the history of the potato, potato types and external characteristics, and internal characteristics…

Potato cannon velocity can be measured with a digitized microphone signal. A microphone is attached to the potato cannon muzzle, and a potato is fired at an aluminum target about 10 m away. Flight time can be determined from the acoustic waveform by subtracting the time in the barrel and time for sound to return from the target. The potato…

Presents material for a talk and demonstration about the relationship of potato types to their different uses by consumers and processors. Includes background information for the instructor and discussions to accompany classroom exercises. Discusses the history of the potato, potato types and external characteristics, and internal characteristics…

Potatoes have been a staple in the American diet for almost 250 years. The United States is the world's fifth biggest producer, behind China, India, the Russian Federation, and the Ukraine. Potatoes in the United States are grown in nearly every state. Idaho produces approximately 1/3 of all potatoe...

The use of potato sprouts as a seed source is an innovative idea that has gained international recognition in recent years. The potato industry in Alaska currently relies on freshpack for the majority of sales. A low level of disease pressure on potato seed production in Alaska suggests high quality...

The potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli) is a Hemipteran pest of solanaceous plants and limits potato and tomato production by the transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum. Genomic information on the potato psyllid is limited but is vital in developing appropriate management strategi...

A considerable number of highly diverse species exist in genus Solanum. Because they can adapt to a broad range of habitats, potato wild relatives are promising sources of desirable agricultural traits. Potato taxonomy is quite complex because of introgression, interspecific hybridization, auto- and allopolyploidy, sexual compatibility among many species, a mixture of sexual and asexual reproduction, possible recent species divergence, phenotypic plasticity, and the consequent high morphological similarity among species. Recent researchers using molecular tools have contributed to the identification of genes controlling several types of resistance as well as to the revision of taxonomical relationships among potato species. Historically, primitive forms of cultivated potato and its wild relatives have been used in breeding programs and there is still an enormous and unimaginable potential for discovering desirable characteristics, particularly in wild species Different methods have been developed to incorporate useful alleles from these wild species into the improved cultivars. Potato germplasm comprising of useful alleles for different breeding objectives is preserved in various gene banks worldwide. These materials, with their invaluable information, are accessible for research and breeding purposes. Precise identification of species base on the new taxonomy is essential for effective use of the germplasm collection. PMID:25931978

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a globally important crop plant producing high yields of nutritionally valuable food in the form of tubers. It has been the focus of substantial study because of its use both as a staple food crop and as a potentially significant source of compounds of interest. This has included the development and application of transgenic technology for introducing novel traits of fundamental and applied interest. This chapter describes a rapid, efficient, and cost-effective system for the routine transformation of this crop plant at rates above 40% efficiency, calculated as the mean number of Southern blot- confirmed independent transgenics per number of internodal explants originally plated. Internodal sections are co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens and subjected to a two-stage callus induction/shoot outgrowth system under kanamycin selection. Shoot regeneration rates are high using the described method, and excised independent shoots rooting from the cut end of the stem after two further subcultures on kanamycin are 95% certain to be transformed. The transgenic status can be confirmed by molecular analysis and the plants grown on for tuber production enabling a wide spectrum of further studies.

Biotechnology-based tools are now widely used to enhance and expand the traditional remit of potato in food production. By modifying its functionality, the capacity of the potato to produce, for example, therapeutic or industrial compounds is now a reality, and its ability to resist disease can also be radically improved. Two developments have been crucial to expanding the role of potato: the recent advances in the fields of structural and functional potato genomics and the ability to integrate genes of interest into the potato genome. In this review we discuss how both developments have diversified the remit of this crop.

Potato is one of the staple crops cultivated in upland farming in Japan and is propagated vegetatively by means of tubers. However once infected with diseases, potato yield decreases significantly. And one seed potato can produce approximately only 10 potato tubers. To improve the production system of seed potatoes in Japan, Japanese government established a three-stage propagation system for the production and distribution of healthy and disease-free seed potatoes. The National Center for Seeds and Seedlings (NCSS) has a role for the production of foundation seed potatoes and strictly manages the production in isolated fields that are treated thoroughly to control pests and diseases. Recently though the distribution of foundation seed potatoes is decreasing, the number of varieties of foundation seed potatoes has increased steadily. And new varieties of potato adapted various requirements, including resistance of the golden potato cyst nematode, have been increasing. Therefore, NCSS is introducing a new method of producing minitubers (MnTs) by using hydroponic cultivation greenhouse to increase the efficiency of propagation and to rapidly disseminate these new potato varieties. In this review, we describe a seed potato production system in Japan and the production of foundation seed potatoes as an important role of NCSS. PMID:25931977

The design and manufacture of a respirometer for measuring the oxygen consumption rate of a respiring potato sprout in a Skylab experiment is reported. The device monitors low gravity effects on the biorhythmicity of organisms during space flight. Several experimental runs using bench mounted flight hardware units were inconclusive due to room temperature induced artifacts.

This report summarizes research on the utilization of white potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) for space life support systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over the period of 1984 to 1993. At full maturity the tuber productivity was 37.5 gm(exp -2) d(exp -1), equating to a growing area requirement for one human (2800 kcal d(exp -1)) of 10.1 m(exp -2). A recirculating nutrient system using slanted trays produced best potato growth and tuber yields when a 2-3 cm layer of gravel or arcillite media was utilized. Potato production was close to maximum under lighting levels of 400 micromol m(exp -2) s(exp -1) of photosynthetic photo flux (PPF) for 24 hours or 800 micromol m(exp -2) s(exp -1) for 12 hours, alternating diurnal temperatures of 22 C and 14 C, relative humidity of 85 percent, and a carbon dioxide level of 1000 micromol m(exp -1). The range of effective concentrations of each separate nutrient is reported. The extensive studies with potatoes in this project have demonstrated that this crop has high productivity of nutritous tubers with a high harvest index in controlled environments, and can fulfill a significant portion of the energy and protein requirements for humans in space.

Potato cultivars in most regions of the world are tetraploid and clonally propagated. For over a century, the breeding strategy has been phenotypic recurrent selection. However, the polyploid nature of the crop prevents breeders from eliminating deleterious alleles and assembling positive alleles fo...

Managing zebra chip disease in the potato growing regions of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is complicated by confusion about the geographic source of the insect vector (potato psyllid) as it colonizes potato fields in these growing regions. Not knowing the source of the vector makes it difficult fo...

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc), is a vector of the bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (Lso) that has been linked to the economically devastating zebra chip disease of potato. To date, four haplotypes of the potato psyllid have been identified and include Central, We...

Zebra chip (ZC), a new and economically important disease of potato in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and New Zealand, is caused by the bacterium “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum”, transmitted to potato by the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli. The disease has caused millions ...

Potatoes are vegetatively propagated, thus many pathogens can be transmitted in seed potatoes and affect the subsequent crop. Certified seed potatoes, which are inspected to ensure that pathogen levels are below a specified threshold, provide effective control of most tuber-borne diseases. Organic g...

The Wisconsin Eco-Potato collaboration developed after several meetings between the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Representatives met at the National Potato Council meeting and identified a common interest in development of environmentally ...

Until recently tobacco and potato tuber necrotic strains of Potato virus Y (PVY) were considered to be absent from the U.S., and seed certification programs were able to limit PVY incidence in seed potatoes. PVY has become more problematic in recent years and beginning in 2002, necrotic strains of P...

IOP PUBLISHING EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS Eur. J. Phys. 30 (2009) 453–457 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/30/3/003 Internal ballistics of a pneumatic potato ...an air gun. Such devices are often employed in outdoor physics demonstrations to launch potatoes using compressed gas that is here assumed to expand...undergraduate students who have taken calculus-based introductory physics. Potato cannons are a popular construction project for physics demonstrations

This is a compilation of invited reviews on 50 key potato science topics to celebrate the 50 anniversary of the journal Potato Research published by the European Potato Association. The article in question reviews potato genetic diversity and gene banks. It presents basic aspects of the mission an...

Immediate reactions against contact to raw potato has been reported in adults with generally being in the form of an oral contact dermatitis or contact urticaria, but it may also manifest as rhinitis symptoms, wheezing or even anaphylaxis. Cooked or raw potato allergy has been rarely reported in children as some is being immediate and others being late reactions, and it usually results from ingestion. Herein, we report two cases with a background of allergic diseases developed anaphylaxis one with cooked potato and the other one with raw potato.

Potatoes, commercially treated with thiabendazole, tecnazene and chlorpropham, were processed into potato crisps and jacket potato crisps at a crisp factory using standard manufacturing conditions. A multi-residue method based on gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection was developed and used to determine pesticide residue levels in the potatoes and potato crisps. Results showed that the residues of all three pesticides were significantly reduced to less than 2% and less than 10% of the maximum theoretical residue carry-through level for potato crisps and jacket potato crisps respectively.

Following tuber induction, potato tubers undergo a period of dormancy during which visible bud growth is inhibited. The length of the dormancy period is under environmental, physiological and hormonal control. Sucrose availability is one prerequisite for bud break. In the absence of sucrose, no bud break occurs. Thus, sucrose is likely to serve as nutrient and signal molecule at the same time. The mode of sucrose sensing is only vaguely understood, but most likely involves trehalose-6-phosphate and SnRK1 signalling networks. This conclusion is supported by the observation that ectopically manipulation of trehalose-6-phosphate levels influences the length of the dormancy period. Once physiological competence is achieved, sprouting is controlled by the level of phytohormones. Two phytohormones, ABA and ethylene, are supposed to suppress tuber sprouting; however, the exact role of ethylene remains to be elucidated. Cytokinins and gibberellins are required for bud break and sprout growth, respectively. The fifth classical phytohormone, auxin, seems to play a role in vascular development. During the dormancy period, buds are symplastically isolated, which changes during bud break. In parallel to the establishment of symplastic connectivity, vascular tissue develops below the growing bud most likely to support the outgrowing sprout with assimilates mobilised in parenchyma cells. Sprouting leads to major quality losses of stored potato tubers. Therefore, control of tuber sprouting is a major objective in potato breeding. Although comparative transcriptome analysis revealed a large number of genes differentially expressed in growing versus dormant buds, no master-regulator of potato tuber sprouting has been identified so far.

Commercialized potatoes in Alaska are mainly grown in the Matanuska Valley, Tanana Valley and Delta Junction, and are routinely monitored for viruses and pests. In contrast, non-commercial potato production sites occurring throughout Alaska are rarely scrutinized for diseases. In addition, virtually...

The Halterman Lab research program is focused on understanding the genetic basis of disease resistance in potato. Several diseases, such as late blight, early blight, potato virus Y, and verticillium wilt, are particularly problematic in Wisconsin. With the exception of early blight, major genes hav...

Opportunities for advances in the potato crop through genetics are great, since potato has many needs for improvement, and many related species with the traits required are available. Genebanks provide a centralized and specialized resource for providing the services of acquisition, classification, ...

Potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), is a serious pest of solanaceous crops in North and Central America and New Zealand. This insect vectors the bacterium “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum” that causes zebra chip disease of potato. So far, four distinct genetic ...

Potatoes are the most consumed vegetable in the developed world and consumption is increasing in the developing world. Consequently, the phytonutrient content of potato can have a large impact on public health. Moreover, because of the high consumption even modest increases in tuber phytonutrient co...

Potato cyst nematodes (PCN; G. rostochiensis and G. pallida) are internationally-recognized quarantine pests and considered the most devastating pests of potatoes due to annual worldwide yield losses estimated at 12.2%. PCNs continue to spread throughout North America and were recently detected in I...

The multiple washing of the wound surface of potato tubers by water adversely affected the protective properties of wound periderm. Immune inhibitor beta-1,3-beta-1,6 glucan had a property of local effect and inhibited the process of wound healing. The pentasaccharide of xyloglucan caused necrosis of potato tuber tissue and prevented the wound reparation process.

Rapid generation cycling via true seed production can increase the efficiency of potato breeding programs and genetics studies. This study was carried out to determine the fruit ripening and seed treatment conditions needed for generating true potato seed (TPS) with a high germination rate in a shor...

Gluten-free pancakes were prepared using rice flour, and rice flour replaced with various amounts, at 10, 20, and 40% of sweet potato flour. At 40% sweet potato, the apparent viscosity became comparable to that of the traditional wheat pancake batter. Texture properties of the cooked pancakes, such...

For an indeterminate period of time following harvest, potatoes will not sprout and are physiologically dormant. Dormancy is gradually lost during postharvest storage and the resultant sprouting is detrimental to the nutritional and processing qualities of potatoes. Because of this, sprouting resu...

This presentation will help growers, seed certification and regulatory officials, consultants, and other practitioners in the United States understand how and why Potato virus Y (PVY) is affecting the seed potato crop and if left unchecked why it will become a major disease issue for the food sector...

Potato zebra chip (ZC) disease is a relative newcomer to the world of important potato diseases. First reported in Mexico in the 1990s, by 2004-2005 the disease was causing serious economic damage in parts of Texas. ZC is now widespread in the western United States, Mexico, Central America, and wa...

The outcrossing polyploidy nature of cultivated potato has hindered the use of genomics resources to dissect the genetic basis of agronomically important traits. Reversion to the diploid level allows us to apply powerful tools toward this effort. Parthenogenesis generates diploid cultivated potato, ...

Potatoes contain two classes of alkaloids: the glycoalkaloids and the calystegines. The presence of glycoalkaloids in potatoes and their toxicity has been known for more than a century and much has been written about them. Discovery of the nortropane calystegine alkaloids is more recent, and the k...

Cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum L., is the third most important food crop and is grown and consumed worldwide. Indigenous primitive cultivated (landrace) potatoes, and wild potatoes, all classified as Solanum section Petota, are widely used for potato improvement. Members of section Petota are ...

Provides historical information on the potato in Ireland focusing on how the potato arrived in Ireland and the advantages and disadvantages of the potato as a food crop. Discusses the Irish potato famine in Ireland, effects of the famine, and the government's laissez-faire response. Includes a list of questions. (CMK)

Provides historical information on the potato in Ireland focusing on how the potato arrived in Ireland and the advantages and disadvantages of the potato as a food crop. Discusses the Irish potato famine in Ireland, effects of the famine, and the government's laissez-faire response. Includes a list of questions. (CMK)

Three sweet potato cultivars (TNG57, TNG66, and TNG73), provided by the Taiwanese Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), were stored at either 15 °C or under ambient conditions (23.8 ~ 28.4 °C and 77.1 ~ 81.0 % of relative humidity). Sweet potato roots were randomly chosen from each replicate and evaluated for measurement of weight loss, sugar content analysis, and sprouting after 0, 14, 24, 48, 56, 70, 84, and 98 days of storage. Fresh sweet potato roots were baked at 200 °C for 60 min then samples were taken for sugar analysis. After 14 days of ambient condition storage, the sprouting percentages for TNG57, TNG66, and TNG73 were 100, 85, and 95 % respectively. When sweet potatoes were stored at 15 °C, the weight loss became less and no sweet potato root sprouted after 14 days of storage. Because manufacturers can store sweet potatoes at 15 °C for almost 2 month without other treatments, the supply capacity shortage in July and September can be reduced. The total sugar content slowly increased along with increasing the storage time. After baking, the total sugar content of sweet potatoes significantly increased due to the formation of maltose. Maltose became the major sugar of baked sweet potatoes. Raw sweet potatoes stored at 15 °C had higher total sugar contents after baking than those stored under ambient conditions. Raw sweet potatoes were recommended to be stored at 15 °C before baking.

The toxic glycoalkaloids, alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine, are present in all parts of the potato plant and are possibly transferred to the terrestrial environment. The amounts of glycoalkaloids in plant, soil, and groundwater were followed in a potato field to investigate their distribution and fate during the season. The amount of glycoalkaloids in the plants was up to 25 kg/ha during maturity and decreased to below 0.63 kg/ha during plant senescence. The glycoalkaloids were detected in the upper soil (up to 0.6 kg/ha); this amount accounted only for a minor fraction of the amount present in the plants. Maximum glycoalkaloid concentration of 2.8 mg/kg dry weight soil was detected in September. Dissipation during winter appeared to be slow because glycoalkaloids were still present in the soil in March. No traces of glycoalkaloids were detected in the groundwater (detection limit 0.2 microg/L). From these results, the leaching potential of the glycoalkaloids is evaluated to be small.

Field sweet potato plants showing virus-like symptoms, as stunting, leaf distortion, mosaic and chlorosis, were collected in southwest Portugal and tested for the presence of four potyviruses, sweet potato virus C (SPVC), sweet potato virus 2 (SPV2), sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), sweet potato virus G (SPVG), and the crinivirus sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV). DsRNA fractions were extracted from symptomatic leaves and used as templates in single and multiplex RT-PCR assays using previously described specific primers for each analyzed virus. The amplified reaction products for SPVC, SPV2 and SPFMV were of expected size, and direct sequencing of PCR products revealed that they correspond to the coat protein gene (CP) and showed 98%, 99% and 99% identity, respectively, to those viruses. Comparison of the CP genomic and amino acid sequences of the Portuguese viral isolates recovered here with those of ten other sequences of isolates obtained in different countries retrieved from the GenBank showed very few differences. The application of the RT-PCR assays revealed for the first time the presence of SPVC and SPFMV in the sweet potato crop in Portugal, the absence of SPVG and SPCSV in tested plants, as well as the occurrence of triple virus infections under field conditions.

Managing zebra chip disease in the potato growing regions of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is complicated by confusion about the source of the insect vector (potato psyllid) as it colonizes potato fields in these growing regions. Not knowing where the psyllid is before arriving in Washington potato...

Solanum section Petota is taxonomically difficult, partly because of interspecific hybridization at both the diploid and polyploid levels. The taxonomy of cultivated potatoes is particularly controversial. Using DNA sequence data of the waxy gene, we here infer relationships among the four species of cultivated potatoes accepted in the latest taxonomic treatment (S. ajanhuiri, S. curtilobum, S. juzepczukii and S. tuberosum, the latter divided into the Andigenum and Chilotanum Cultivar Groups). The data support prior ideas of hybrid origins of S. ajanhuiri from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (2x = S. stenotomum) × S. megistacrolobum; S. juzepczukii from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (2x = S. stenotomum) × S. acaule; and S. curtilobum from the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group (4x = S. tuberosum subsp. andigenum) × S. juzepczukii. For the tetraploid cultivar-groups of S. tuberosum, hybrid origins are suggested entirely within much more closely related species, except for two of three examined accessions of the S. tuberosum Chilotanum Group that appear to have hybridized with the wild species S. maglia. Hybrid origins of the crop/weed species S. sucrense are more difficult to support and S. vernei is not supported as a wild species progenitor of the S. tuberosum Andigenum Group.

The starch accumulation-degradation process as well as the structure of leaf starch are not completely understood. To study this, starch was isolated from potato leaves collected in the early morning and late afternoon in July and August, representing different starch accumulation rates. The starch content of potato leaves varied between 2.9 and 12.9% (dry matter basis) over the night and day in the middle of July and between 0.6 and 1.5% in August. Scanning electron microscopy analyses of the four isolated starch samples showed that the granules had either an oval or a round shape and did not exceed 5 microm in size. Starch was extracted by successive washing steps with dimethyl sulfoxide and precipitated with ethanol. An elution profile on Sepharose CL-6B of debranched starch showed the presence of a material with a chain length distribution between that generally found for amylose and amylopectin. Amylopectin unit chains of low molecular size were present in a higher amount in the afternoon than in the morning samples. What remains at the end of the night is depleted in specific chain lengths, mainly between DP 15 and 24 and above DP 35, relative to the end of the day.

Two new loci for resistance to potato virus M (PVM), Gm and Rm, have been mapped in potato. The gene Gm was derived from Solanum gourlayi, whereas, Solanum megistacrolobum is the source of the gene Rm. Gm confers resistance to PVM infection after mechanical inoculation. Rm induces a hypersensitive response in potato plants. Two diploid populations segregating for Gm and Rm, bulked segregant analysis (BSA) using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR), and available potato molecular maps were instrumental for mapping the resistance loci. The novel locus Gm was mapped to a central region on potato chromosome IX. The locus Rm was placed on the short arm of chromosome XI, close to the marker loci GP250 and GP283, where a hotspot for monogenic and polygenic resistance to diverse pathogens is located in the potato and tomato genome.

The late blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) rots susceptible species of potato plants. None of the major varieties of potato (Solanum tuberosum) grown in the USA is resistant to US-8, the most prevalent genotype of the fungus. Now, Junqi Song, James Bradeen and colleagues have cloned the RB gene from the wild diploid potato species, Solanum bulbocastanum, using a map-based approach in combination with long-range PCR. Transgenic plants containing the gene, normally fully susceptible, displayed broad-spectrum late blight resistance.

Hamsters were gavaged either dried potato sprout material, alkaloid extract of potato sprouts, or the marc from which the alkaloid fraction was extracted and then were examined for gross and microscopic lesions. Nine of 10 hamsters receiving dried potato sprout material and 3 of 5 hamsters receiving alkaloid extract had severe gastric and intestinal mucosal necrosis which was most severe in the glandular stomach, duodenum and proximal jejunum. All control hamsters gavaged with water and all hamsters gavaged with the potato sprout marc survived to the time of euthanasia and did not have gross or microscopic lesions.

In the field, plants are challenged by more than one biotic stressor at the same time. In this study, the molecular interactions between potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say; CPB) and Potato virus YNTN (PVYNTN) were investigated through analyses of gene expression in the potato leaves and the gut of the CPB larvae, and of the release of potato volatile compounds. CPB larval growth was enhanced when reared on secondary PVYNTN-infected plants, which was linked to decreased accumulation of transcripts associated with the antinutritional properties of potato. In PVYNTN-infected plants, ethylene signalling pathway induction and induction of auxin response transcription factors were attenuated, while no differences were observed in jasmonic acid (JA) signalling pathway. Similarly to rearing on virus-infected plants, CPB larvae gained more weight when reared on plants silenced in JA receptor gene (coi1). Although herbivore-induced defence mechanism is regulated predominantly by JA, response in coi1-silenced plants only partially corresponded to the one observed in PVYNTN-infected plants, confirming the role of other plant hormones in modulating this response. The release of β-barbatene and benzyl alcohol was different in healthy and PVYNTN-infected plants before CPB larvae infestation, implicating the importance of PVYNTN infection in plant communication with its environment. This was reflected in gene expression profiles of neighbouring plants showing different degree of defence response. This study thus contributes to our understanding of plant responses in agro-ecosystems. PMID:25251011

The yield of potatoes is affected by water and temperature during the growing season. We study the impact of a suite of climate variables on potato yield at country level. More than ten climate variables related to the growth of potato are considered, including the seasonal rainfall and temperature, but also extreme conditions at different averaging periods from daily to monthly. A Bayesian hierarchical model is developed to jointly consider the risk of heat stress, cold stress, wet and drought. Future climate risks are investigated through the projection of future climate data. This study contributes to assess the risks of present and future climate risks on potatoes yield, especially the risks of extreme events, which could be used to guide better sourcing strategy and ensure food security in the future.

Describes a laboratory activity involving a mathematical model of cooking potatoes that can be solved analytically. Highlights the microstructure aspects of the experiment. Provides the key aspects of the results, detailed background readings, laboratory procedures and data analyses. (MM)

The "hot potato voice" is widely recognized as a symptom of peritonsillar cellulitis or abscess; yet there have been no studies assessing the resonance characteristics of the vocal tract in peritonsillitis. Analysis was undertaken of formant frequencies in the articulation of the vowels /i:/. /a:/ and /u:/ in six subjects with peritonsillitis and compared with articulation once the peritonsillitis had settled. Significant variation was found in F1 when articulating /i:/ and in F2 when articulating /a:/, which are explainable by dyskinesis of the peritonsillar musculature. These findings were compared with six subjects articulating the same vowels with and without a hot potato in their mouth. Variation was found in both F1 and F2 when articulating /i:/, which can be related to interference of the potato with movement of the anterior tongue. The changes in the vocal tract differ in these two cases and the title "hot potato voice" in peritonsillitis is a misnomer.

Describes a laboratory activity involving a mathematical model of cooking potatoes that can be solved analytically. Highlights the microstructure aspects of the experiment. Provides the key aspects of the results, detailed background readings, laboratory procedures and data analyses. (MM)

The rate of salt release in-mouth from salted potato crisps was evaluated. It was hypothesised that a slow steady release of sodium would occur on chewing and hydration; to test this a crisp was chewed and held in the oral cavity without swallowing for 60 s. Sodium release was measured over the entire holding period, after 20-30 s a peak in salivary sodium levels was recorded. A similar trend was observed with sensory perceived saltiness by trained panellists. The results suggest that a significant proportion of the crisp's salt flavouring is released in a pulse-type mechanism which would not be encountered when the crisp is exposed to normal eating patterns and would result in the consumption of a large proportion of unperceived sodium.

Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) and potato virus Y (PVY) are the two major viral problems for the potato production all over the world. Transgenic approaches involving the expression of viral genes are being developed to provide protection for plants against viral diseases. The purpose of this study w...

Potato virus Y (PVY) is a serious threat to potato production due to negative effects on tuber yield and quality, and in particular, due to induction of potato tuber necrotic ringspot disease (PTNRD). PTNRD is typically associated with recombinant strains of PVY. These recombinant strains have been ...

Considerable concern is caused by the problem of potato peel waste (PPW) to potato industries in Europe. An integrated, environmentally-friendly solution is yet to be found and is currently undergoing investigation. Potato peel is a zero value waste produced by potato processing plants. However, bio-ethanol produced from potato wastes has a large potential market. If Federal Government regulations are adopted in light of the Kyoto agreement, the mandatory blending of bio-ethanol with traditional gasoline in amounts up to 10% will result in a demand for large quantities of bio-ethanol. PPW contain sufficient quantities of starch, cellulose, hemicellulose and fermentable sugars to warrant use as an ethanol feedstock. In the present study, a number of batches of PPW were hydrolyzed with various enzymes and/or acid, and fermented by Saccharomyces cerevisae var. bayanus to determine fermentability and ethanol production. Enzymatic hydrolysis with a combination of three enzymes, released 18.5 g L(-1) reducing sugar and produced 7.6 g L(-1) of ethanol after fermentation. The results demonstrate that PPW, a by-product of the potato industry features a high potential for ethanol production.

Pymetrozine is a selective insecticide that targets aphids. Published assessments of the effects of pymetrozine on nontarget organisms focus mainly on predatory insects, and they rarely indicate toxicity. In a laboratory bioassay, survival of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), larvae was not affected by pymetrozine exposure. We subsequently used pymetrozine to implement low-aphid-density treatments in a field experiment that involved separate manipulations of Colorado potato beetle density. Unexpectedly, the addition of Colorado potato beetle adults and eggs did not increase the densities of Colorado potato beetle larvae in plots that were sprayed with pymetrozine (applied with water and an adjuvant). In control plots sprayed with water and adjuvant (without pymetrozine), addition of Colorado potato beetles increased densities of their larvae. Data collected on a smaller scale suggest that a behavioral mechanism underlies the population-level pattern: Colorado potato beetle larvae become more active and are less likely to remain on a host plant after exposure to pymetrozine. Thus, potato, Solanum tuberosum L., growers who use pymetrozine against aphids also might benefit in terms of Colorado potato beetle control.

The characterization of resistance of selected potato, Solanum tuberosum L., breeding clones to the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) was investigated. Antixenosis was assessed in choice tests in which a single plant of each genotype was placed inside a rearing cag...

Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) is the type member of genus Pomovirus. PMTV is an important pathogen of potato, causing serious economic losses in Northern Europe, North and South America, and Asia. PMTV in the United States was first reported in Maine (2). PMTV is vectored by plasmodiophoromycete Sp...

In recent years, Potato virus Y has reemerged as a serious disease problem in many potato production areas in the northern United States and eastern Canada. In Wisconsin, two widely grown cultivars, Russet Norkotah and Silverton, express mild or no symptoms when infected with PVY. The lack of sympto...

Zebra chip disease in potatoes has become a serious problem in North America. Researchers in Texas developed a sampling and reporting program for cooperating growers in three states. Data from this project enabled us to document insecticide use and costs for ZC control in commercial potato fields...

Eight methods were compared for the extraction of DNA from raw potato tubers, and nine methods were evaluated for the extraction of DNA from dehydrated potato slices, potato flakes, potato flour, potato starch, and two ready-to-eat potato snack foods. Extracts were assessed for yield using a fluorescence-based DNA quantification assay. Real-time amplification of an endogenous gene, sucrose synthase (sus), was used to assess extract and template quality. A CTAB-based method extracted the highest DNA yields from the tuber material. An in-house method, which utilized the Kingfisher magnetic particle processor, yielded the highest template quality from the tubers. For most of the tuber samples, the Kingfisher and CTAB methods recovered the highest levels of amplifiable sus. DNA yields for potato-derived foods generally decreased with the extent that the product had been processed. The methods that utilized the magnetic particle processor delivered the highest template quality from one of the snack products that was particularly high in fat. For most of the remaining processed products, the levels of amplifiable target DNA recovered were roughly correlated with total DNA recovery, indicating that overall yield had greater influence over sus amplification than template quality. The Wizard method was generally the best method for the extraction of DNA from most of the potato-derived foods.

There has been a shift in the prevalence of Potato virus Y (PVY) strains affecting the U.S. potato crop in recent years. The incidence of the ordinary strain, PVYO, is now significantly less than the emerging recombinant strains, e.g. PVYNTN, PVYN:O/NWi. It is not uncommon to find several PVY strai...

This poster presentation reports progress on a USDA NRI grant to enhance understanding of and access to the genetic diversity in wild and landrace relatives of tomato, potato, sweet potato, and carrot, and contribute to the same for other euasterid plant species. This is being done with Conserved Or...

Potato starch is composed of approximately 75% amylopectin and 25% amylose. We are interested in breeding for higher amylose content, which would increase the fiber content of potato and decrease glycemic index. In order to make progress in a breeding program, we have developed a high throughput ass...

The Washington State Potato Seed Lot Trials annually evaluates seed lots from several states for the incidence of various potato viruses and other growth compromising factors. During the 2005 and 2006 seasons, many plants within seed lots of cv. Defender displayed necrotic lesions, leaf malformati...

Potato virus Y (PVY) strains have been defined based on genetic reactions in potato indicators expressing hypersensitive reaction (HR) response due to the presence of three different N genes, and also based on genomic information. Nine strains are known currently, with five PVY strains defined biol...

Potato is the world's most important vegetable crop, with nearly 400 million tons produced worldwide every year, lending to stability in food supply and socioeconomics. In general, potato is an intensively managed crop, requiring irrigation, fertilization, and frequent pesticide applications in orde...

Background Invertases are ubiquitous enzymes that irreversibly cleave sucrose into fructose and glucose. Plant invertases play important roles in carbohydrate metabolism, plant development, and biotic and abiotic stress responses. In potato (Solanum tuberosum), invertases are involved in 'cold-induced sweetening' of tubers, an adaptive response to cold stress, which negatively affects the quality of potato chips and French fries. Linkage and association studies have identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) for tuber sugar content and chip quality that colocalize with three independent potato invertase loci, which together encode five invertase genes. The role of natural allelic variation of these genes in controlling the variation of tuber sugar content in different genotypes is unknown. Results For functional studies on natural variants of five potato invertase genes we cloned and sequenced 193 full-length cDNAs from six heterozygous individuals (three tetraploid and three diploid). Eleven, thirteen, ten, twelve and nine different cDNA alleles were obtained for the genes Pain-1, InvGE, InvGF, InvCD141 and InvCD111, respectively. Allelic cDNA sequences differed from each other by 4 to 9%, and most were genotype specific. Additional variation was identified by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis in an association-mapping population of 219 tetraploid individuals. Haplotype modeling revealed two to three major haplotypes besides a larger number of minor frequency haplotypes. cDNA alleles associated with chip quality, tuber starch content and starch yield were identified. Conclusions Very high natural allelic variation was uncovered in a set of five potato invertase genes. This variability is a consequence of the cultivated potato's reproductive biology. Some of the structural variation found might underlie functional variation that influences important agronomic traits such as tuber sugar content. The associations found between specific invertase alleles and

The extent of environmental effects on tuber phytonutrients is unclear, as is whether environment significantly influences potato nutritional quality. Potatoes grown in environmentally diverse locations in North America (Alaska, Texas and Florida) were profiled for over forty tuber phenylpropanoids ...

..., shoestrings, starch and flour. Processing does not include potatoes that are only peeled, or cooled, sliced..., shoestrings, starch and flour. Processing does not include potatoes that are only peeled, or cooled,...

The white potato is a concentrated source of carbohydrate, dietary fiber, and resistant starch and continues to be the staple food of choice for many cultures. The white potato is also a concentrated source of vitamin C and potassium. Two of the nutrients in white potatoes, dietary fiber and potassium, have been designated as nutrients of concern in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Potatoes are often maligned in nutrition circles because of their suspected link to obesity, and popular potato foods often contain more fat calories than carbohydrate calories. Some food guides do not include potatoes in the vegetable group because of their association with high-fat diets. However, potatoes should be included in the vegetable group because they contribute critical nutrients. All white vegetables, including white potatoes, provide nutrients needed in the diet and deserve a prominent position in food guides. PMID:23674809

Pigmented potato cultivars were ranked by a consumer panel for overall acceptance, and acceptance of aroma, appear- ance, and flavor. Potatoes were analyzed for total phenolics, anthocyanins and carotenoids. Concentrations of total phenolics in yellow and purple potato cultivars were 2-fold greate...

While potato cultivars in major world production regions are tetraploid, wild and cultivated potatoes in the crop’s center of origin range from diploid to hexaploid. Landrace potato varieties cannot be distinguished based on ploidy. Contrary to popular belief, tetraploidy does not appear to be neces...

Zebra chip is a destructive disease of potatoes in the Pacific Northwest and other potato production regions of North America. The pathogen associated with this disease is transmitted by the potato psyllid. A team of researchers which included a scientist at the ARS in Wapato, WA updated an extens...

Using an integrated enterprise and whole-farm budget model for a 324-ha medium-sized potato farm, the profitability of potatoes grown in combination with fifteen common potato rotation crops in Maine are evaluated. Enterprise budgets for all sixteen crops are calculated while a whole-farm budget syn...

Globodera ellingtonae is a recently described nematode parasite of potato, which is closely related to the economically-significant potato cyst nematodes, G. rostochiensis and G. pallida. Because of the close relationship of G. ellingtonae to the potato cyst nematodes, a greater understanding of its...

Potato starch is composed of amylopectin and amylose in an approximately three to one ratio. Amylose is considered to be nutritionally desirable, so there is interest in finding strategies to increase the amylose content of potatoes. There is also interest in marketing “baby” potatoes, which are har...

Solanum tuberosum, the cultivated potato of world commerce, is a primary food crop worldwide. Wild and cultivated potatoes form the germplasm base for international breeding efforts to improve potato in the face of variety of disease, environmental, and agronomic constraints. A series of national an...

Solanum tuberosum, the cultivated potato of world commerce, is a primary food crop worldwide. Wild and cultivated potatoes form the germplasm base for international breeding efforts to improve potato in the face of variety of disease, environmental, and agronomic constraints. A series of national an...

The common potato of world commerce, Solanum tuberosum, has a rich genepool of about 190 wild and cultivated species (Solanum section Petota) that are of great importance in potato improvement. About 70% of the wild potato species are diploid at 2n = 2x = 24, and the rest form a polyploid series of ...

A sensory evaluation test was conducted in breads containing 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% potato flour. The samples were sliced into equally sized pieces and served as coded randomized duplicates. All-wheat bread was used as a standard. The comparative preferences were rated on a 7-point hedonic scale (7 = very good, 1 = very bad) for appearance, flavor, texture and overall quality. The scores were statistically analyzed by the analysis of variance and the Chi square test. No significant differences were found in regard to flavor between the standard bread and bread containing from 2-10% potato flour. In the test of organoleptic quality, the bread containing 8% potato flour was rated as "good", as compared to "very good" for the all-wheat bread. However, this difference was not statistically significant. The values obtained in this study show that the incorporation of 6-8% potato flour in bread is perfectly feasible. This was obtained from a local food industry that in manufacturing the flour, used the Spartan variety potato produced in the southern region of Chile.

In this research, production of ethanol from waste potatoes fermentation was studied using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Potato Flour prepared from potato tubers after cooking and drying at 85°C. A homogenous slurry of potato flour prepared in water at solid-liquid ratio 1:10. Liquefaction of potato starch slurry was done with α-amylase at 80°C for 40 min followed by saccharification process which was done with glucoamylase at 65°C for two hr. Fermentation of hydrolysate with Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 35°C for two days resulted in the production of 33 g/l ethanol. The following parameters have been analysed: temperature, time of fermentation and pH. It found that Saccharification process is affected by enzyme Amylase 300 concentration and concentration of 1000μl/100ml gives the efficient effect of the process. The best temperature for fermentation process was found to be about 35°C. Also, it noticed that ethanol production increased as a time of fermentation increased but after 48 hr further growth in fermentation time did not have an appreciable effect. Finally, the optimal value of pH for fermentation process was about 5 to 6.

A memristor is a nonlinear element because its current-voltage characteristic is similar to that of a Lissajous pattern for nonlinear systems. This element was postulated recently and researchers are looking for it in different biosystems. We investigated electrical circuitry of red Irish potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum L.). The goal was to discover if potato tubers might have a new electrical component - a resistor with memory. The analysis was based on a cyclic current-voltage characteristic where the resistor with memory should manifest itself. We found that the electrostimulation by bipolar sinusoidal or triangle periodic waves induces electrical responses in the potato tubers with fingerprints of memristors. Tetraethylammonium chloride, an inhibitor of voltage gated K+ channels, transforms a memristor to a resistor in potato tubers. Our results demonstrate that a voltage gated K+ channel in the excitable tissue of potato tubers has properties of a memristor. Uncoupler carbonylcyanide-4-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl hydrazone decreases the amplitude of electrical responses at low and high frequencies of bipolar periodic sinusoidal or triangle electrostimulating waves. The discovery of memristors in plants creates a new direction in the understanding of electrical phenomena in plants. PMID:26237427

A memristor is a nonlinear element because its current-voltage characteristic is similar to that of a Lissajous pattern for nonlinear systems. This element was postulated recently and researchers are looking for it in different biosystems. We investigated electrical circuitry of red Irish potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum L.). The goal was to discover if potato tubers might have a new electrical component - a resistor with memory. The analysis was based on a cyclic current-voltage characteristic where the resistor with memory should manifest itself. We found that the electrostimulation by bipolar sinusoidal or triangle periodic waves induces electrical responses in the potato tubers with fingerprints of memristors. Tetraethylammonium chloride, an inhibitor of voltage gated K(+) channels, transforms a memristor to a resistor in potato tubers. Our results demonstrate that a voltage gated K(+) channel in the excitable tissue of potato tubers has properties of a memristor. Uncoupler carbonylcyanide-4-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl hydrazone decreases the amplitude of electrical responses at low and high frequencies of bipolar periodic sinusoidal or triangle electrostimulating waves. The discovery of memristors in plants creates a new direction in the understanding of electrical phenomena in plants.

Potato scab is a serious plant disease caused by several Streptomyces sp., and effective control methods remain unavailable. Although antagonistic bacteria and phages against potato scab pathogens have been reported, to the best of our knowledge, there is no information about fungi that are antagonistic to the pathogens. The aim of this study was to isolate fungal antagonists, characterize their phylogenetic positions, determine their antagonistic activities against potato scab pathogens, and highlight their potential use as control agents under lower pH conditions. Fifteen fungal stains isolated from potato field soils were found to have antagonistic activity against three well-known potato scab pathogens: Streptomyces scabiei, Streptomyces acidiscabiei, and Streptomyces turgidiscabiei. These 15 fungal strains were phylogenetically classified into at least six orders and nine genera based on 18S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. These fungal isolates were related to members of the genera Penicillium, Eupenicillium, Chaetomium, Fusarium, Cladosporium, Mortierella, Kionochaeta, Pseudogymnoascus, and Lecythophora. The antagonistic activities of most of the fungal isolates were highly strengthened under the lower pH conditions, suggesting the advantage of combining their use with a traditional method such as soil acidification. This is the first report to demonstrate that phylogenetically diverse fungi show antagonistic activity against major potato scab pathogens. These fungal strains could be used as potential agents to control potato scab disease.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades have crucial roles in the regulation of plant development and in plant responses to stress. Plant recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns or pathogen-derived effector proteins has been shown to trigger activation of several MAPKs. This then controls defence responses, including synthesis and/or signalling of defence hormones and activation of defence related genes. The MAPK cascade genes are highly complex and interconnected, and thus the precise signalling mechanisms in specific plant–pathogen interactions are still not known. Here we investigated the MAPK signalling network involved in immune responses of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) to Potato virus Y, an important potato pathogen worldwide. Sequence analysis was performed to identify the complete MAPK kinase (MKK) family in potato, and to identify those regulated in the hypersensitive resistance response to Potato virus Y infection. Arabidopsis has 10 MKK family members, of which we identified five in potato and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and eight in Nicotiana benthamiana. Among these, StMKK6 is the most strongly regulated gene in response to Potato virus Y. The salicylic acid treatment revealed that StMKK6 is regulated by the hormone that is in agreement with the salicylic acid-regulated domains found in the StMKK6 promoter. The involvement of StMKK6 in potato defence response was confirmed by localisation studies, where StMKK6 accumulated strongly only in Potato-virus-Y-infected plants, and predominantly in the cell nucleus. Using a yeast two-hybrid method, we identified three StMKK6 targets downstream in the MAPK cascade: StMAPK4_2, StMAPK6 and StMAPK13. These data together provide further insight into the StMKK6 signalling module and its involvement in plant defence. PMID:25111695

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades have crucial roles in the regulation of plant development and in plant responses to stress. Plant recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns or pathogen-derived effector proteins has been shown to trigger activation of several MAPKs. This then controls defence responses, including synthesis and/or signalling of defence hormones and activation of defence related genes. The MAPK cascade genes are highly complex and interconnected, and thus the precise signalling mechanisms in specific plant-pathogen interactions are still not known. Here we investigated the MAPK signalling network involved in immune responses of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) to Potato virus Y, an important potato pathogen worldwide. Sequence analysis was performed to identify the complete MAPK kinase (MKK) family in potato, and to identify those regulated in the hypersensitive resistance response to Potato virus Y infection. Arabidopsis has 10 MKK family members, of which we identified five in potato and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and eight in Nicotiana benthamiana. Among these, StMKK6 is the most strongly regulated gene in response to Potato virus Y. The salicylic acid treatment revealed that StMKK6 is regulated by the hormone that is in agreement with the salicylic acid-regulated domains found in the StMKK6 promoter. The involvement of StMKK6 in potato defence response was confirmed by localisation studies, where StMKK6 accumulated strongly only in Potato-virus-Y-infected plants, and predominantly in the cell nucleus. Using a yeast two-hybrid method, we identified three StMKK6 targets downstream in the MAPK cascade: StMAPK4_2, StMAPK6 and StMAPK13. These data together provide further insight into the StMKK6 signalling module and its involvement in plant defence.

A protein fraction capable of inhibit in vitro protein synthesis was found in potato tubers in fresh and wounded tissue. Inhibitor activity from fresh tissue decays with wounding. Inhibition activity was detected absorbed to ribsomal fraction and cytosol of potato tuber tissue by a partially reconstituted in vitro system from potato tuber and wheat germ. Adsorbed ribosomal fraction was more suitable of purification. This fraction was washed from ribosomes with 0.3M KCl, concentrated with ammonium sulfate precipitation and purified through sephadex G100 and sephadex G-75 columns chromatography. After 61 fold purification adsorbed protein fraction can inhibit germination of maize, wheat and sesame seeds, as well as {sup 3}H-leucine incorporation into protein by imbibed maize embryos. Inhibition activity was lost by temperature, alkali and protease-K hydrolysis. Preliminar analysis could not show presence of reductor sugars. Physiological role of this inhibitor in relation to rest and active tissue remains to be studied.

Although plastid transformation has attractive advantages and potential applications in plant biotechnology, for long time it has been highly efficient only in tobacco. The lack of efficient selection and regeneration protocols and, for some species, the inefficient recombination using heterologous flanking regions in transformation vectors prevented the extension of the technology to major crops. However, the availability of this technology for species other than tobacco could offer new possibilities in plant breeding, such as resistance management or improvement of nutritional value, with no or limited environmental concerns. Herein we describe an efficient plastid transformation protocol for potato (Solanum tuberosum subsp. tuberosum). By optimizing the tissue culture system and using transformation vectors carrying homologous potato flanking sequences, we obtained up to one transplastomic shoot per bombardment. Such efficiency is comparable to that usually achieved in tobacco. The method described in this chapter can be used to regenerate potato transplastomic plants expressing recombinant proteins in chloroplasts as well as in amyloplasts.

The studies of potato irradiation have been conducted in the framework of the National Food Irradiation Research Project for 4 years. Although in the G.D.R. the use of chemical sprout inhibitors is allowed, potato irradiation can be an alternative technique for potato processing. Before irradiation a wound healing period of approx. 2 weeks is absolutely necessary to protect the potatoes from Fusarium. The method that presents the minimum risk of damage is irradiation in containers. Economic evaluations for the irradiation of potatoes are also made.

The objective of this experiment and lesson intended for high school students in an engineering or materials science course or college freshmen is to demonstrate the relation between processing, structure, and thermodynamic and physical properties. The specific objectives are to show the effect of structure and structural changes on thermodynamic properties (specific heat) and physical properties (compressive strength); to illustrate the first law of thermodynamics; to compare boiling a potato in water with cooking it in a microwave in terms of the rate of structural change and the energy consumed to 'process' the potato; and to demonstrate compression testing.

To investigate glycaemic and satiating properties of potato products in healthy subjects using energy-equivalent or carbohydrate-equivalent test meals, respectively. Thirteen healthy subjects volunteered for the first study, and 14 for the second. The tests were performed at Applied Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND TEST MEALS: All meals were served as breakfast in random order after an overnight fast. Study 1 included four energy-equivalent (1000 kJ) meals of boiled potatoes, french fries, or mashed potatoes; the latter varying in portion size by use of different amounts of water. The available carbohydrate content varied between 32.5 and 50.3 g/portion. Capillary blood samples were collected during 240 min for analysis of glucose, and satiety was measured with a subjective rating scale. Study 2 included four carbohydrate-equivalent meals (50 g available carbohydrates) of french fries, boiled potatoes served with and without addition of oil, and white wheat bread (reference). The energy content varied between 963 and 1534 kJ/portion. Capillary blood samples were collected during 180 min for analysis of glucose, and satiety was measured using a subjective rating scale. Study 1: boiled potatoes induced higher subjective satiety than french fries when compared on an energy-equivalent basis. The french fries elicited the lowest early glycaemic response and was less satiating in the early postprandial phase (area under the curve (AUC) 0-45 min). No differences were found in glycaemic or satiety response between boiled or mashed potatoes. Study 2: french fries resulted in a significantly lower glycaemic response (glycaemic index (GI)=77) than boiled potatoes either with or without addition of oil (GI=131 and 111, respectively). No differences were found in subjective satiety response between the products served on carbohydrate equivalence. Boiled potatoes were more satiating than french fries on an energy-equivalent basis

By means of systematic demonstration, this study found the mathematical relationship among several temperature driven nonlinear models for crop growth, and amended the limitation of the past nonlinear model in biological usage and the improved model with more general definition. Integrated with four years' field experimental data and Gauss function based temperature effectiveness model submitted in this study, the phenological development model for potato crop was established under different ecological conditions. The phenological development model explained the digital contribution of soil temperature increment on potato growth, and verified by the experimental data from different years and different conditions. There were strict co-relationships between modeling data and experimental data.

The content of potato glycoalkaloid (PGA) was investigated in 27 cultivars of raw potatoes and 31 potatoes in commercial foods with peel. The investigation of the 27 cultivars of potatoes showed different contents of glycoalkaloids. "May queen" and "Sherry" showed high contents of PGA (180 mg/kg and 320 mg/kg, respectively) among the raw potatoes of middle size (ca. 100 g). On the other hand, "Inca red" showed the lowest content of 21 mg/kg. Higher contents of PGA were found in smaller potatoes in this study. The content of PGA varied in the range of 48-350 mg/kg in the potatoes in commercial foods with peel.

The relative suitability of potato and crops frequently grown in rotation with potato as hosts for Pratylenchus penetrans was evaluated. Suitability of rye, wheat, corn, oat, sorgho-sudangrass, and potato were compared in pot studies based on ratios of final population : initial population density and densities of nematodes in roots at harvest. Population densities increased more on potato, oat, and corn than on rye, wheat, and sorgho-sudangrass. There were no differences among the four rye cultivars or between the two oat cultivars in host suitability. Population increases were not related to root weight or consistently to nematode densities in roots. Although rye and wheat were equally suitable hosts in pot studies, P. penetrans increased more on wheat than on rye in a field study, indicating that reproduction was reduced or mortality was increased on rye under field conditions. PMID:19287696

The relative suitability of potato and crops frequently grown in rotation with potato as hosts for Pratylenchus penetrans was evaluated. Suitability of rye, wheat, corn, oat, sorgho-sudangrass, and potato were compared in pot studies based on ratios of final population : initial population density and densities of nematodes in roots at harvest. Population densities increased more on potato, oat, and corn than on rye, wheat, and sorgho-sudangrass. There were no differences among the four rye cultivars or between the two oat cultivars in host suitability. Population increases were not related to root weight or consistently to nematode densities in roots. Although rye and wheat were equally suitable hosts in pot studies, P. penetrans increased more on wheat than on rye in a field study, indicating that reproduction was reduced or mortality was increased on rye under field conditions.

Temperature-dependent thermal coefficients of mathematical models of the postharvest storage process play an important role in determining the models accuracy. Thermal properties of tubers under storage available in literature are generally of those in semi processed form (skinless) such as those having undergone peeling, dicing and cutting actions. This study investigates the effect of tuber skin on the thermal properties of whole tubers of potato and sweet potato. A direct approach was used to measure the tubers' density and thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity by the transient heat transfer method. Indirect approach was used to measure the tubers' specific heat. Experimental data were used to develop empirical models of the thermal coefficients as a function of temperature. Results of the study should find great use in the modeling of potato and sweet potato storage process.

Potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), is the most serious insect pest of potatoes worldwide. The introduction of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin gene through genetic engineering offers host plant resistance for the management of potato tuberworm. We report on the field and storage studies to evaluate Bt-cry5 potato lines for resistance to potato tuberworm in Egypt under natural infestations and their agronomic performance in both Egypt and Michigan. From 1997 to 2001, field experiments were conducted at the International Potato Center (CIP) Research Station, Kafr El-Zyat, Egypt, and/or Agricultural Genetic Engineering Institute (AGERI), Giza, Egypt, to evaluate resistance to tuberworm. A total of 27 Bt-transgenic potato lines from six different Bt constructs were evaluated over a 5-yr period. After harvest and evaluation of the agronomic trials, storage evaluation of potato tuberworm damage was done at the CIP Research Station. The 1997 field trial was the first field test of genetically engineered crops in Egypt. Field tests to assess potato tuberworm resistance in Egypt were able to differentiate between the Bt-transgenic lines and the nontransgenic lines/cultivars in 1999, 2000, and 2001. The Bt-cry5-Spunta lines (Spunta-G2, Spunta-G3, and Spunta-6a3) were the most resistant lines in field with 99-100% of tubers free of damage. In the 2001 storage study, these lines were also over 90% free of tuberworm damage after 3 mo. NYL235-4.13, which combines glandular trichomes with the Bt-cry5/gus fusion construct, also had a high percentage of clean tubers in the field studies. In agronomic field trials in Michigan from 1997 to 2001, the Bt-transgenic lines in most instances performed similar to the nontransgenic line in the agronomic trials; however, in Egypt (1998-1999), the yields were less than one-half of those in Michigan. Expression of the Bt-cry5 gene in the potato tuber and foliage will provide the seed producer and grower a tool in which to

Potato virus Y (PVY) is the type species in the potyvirus genus of the family potyviridae. This plant pathogenic virus is transmitted through plant sap inoculation by stem and core grafting and by at least 25 aphid species in a non-persistent manner. According to potato specialists in most parts of the world, PVY is currently considered as the most harmful virus in cultivated potatoes. This is also the case for potato production in Iran. In this project we investigated potato leaves that were collected in the Kurdistan province in Iran for the presence of PVY with use of different biochemical/molecular techniques as ELISA, RT-PCR and qPCR. The different PVY strains, including PVY-O, PVY-N, PVYN-TN, PVY-NWi, were determined by using a triplex RT-PCR. In conclusion, the results demonstrated the presence of PVY-NWi strains in the potato leaf samples from Kurdistan (Iran). The data are discussed in relation to prevalence of PVY strains in Iran.

The bacterium 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' is associated with zebra chip disease (ZC), a threat to potato production in North America and New Zealand. It is vectored by potato psyllids. Previous studies observed that 'Ca. L. solanacearum' infection causes potato tubers to undergo ZC-symptom-associated shifts in physiology, such as increased levels of amino acids, sugars, and phenolics. However, little is known about how 'Ca. L. solanacearum' infections caused by psyllid vector feeding may affect metabolism in potato foliage and stems. This study compared metabolism in potato plants fed upon by 'Ca. L. solanacearum'-positive psyllids with potato plants not exposed to psyllids. Foliar levels of asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamine, fructose, glucose, sucrose, a ferulic acid derivative, and quinic acid were lower in 'Ca. L. solanacearum'-inoculated than noninfected plants. However, foliar levels of proline, serine, four phenolic compounds, and most terpenoids were greater in 'Ca. L. solanacearum'-inoculated than noninfected plants. Upper stem levels of asparagine and aspartic acid, upper and lower stem levels of ellagitannins and most monoterpenoids, and lower stem level of sesquiterpenoids were greater in 'Ca. L. solanacearum'-inoculated than noninfected plants. These results suggest that many defense-related terpenoid compounds might increase in plants which had psyllids inoculate 'Ca. L. solanacearum'. This could impact progression and spread of ZC.

The abundance of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), in organically grown potato did not change significantly in response to increasing rates of dehydrated poultry manure. However, peaks of abundance of larvae were shifted forward in time in response to the high rate of organic fertilizer. Tests using excised foliage showed that the shift was not caused by differential larval mortality or longer developmental times. Time allocation to resting, walking, and feeding by adults was similar regardless of fertilizer rate. Adult foliage consumption was unaffected by organic fertilizer rates in no choice tests and significantly affected in few choice tests. A 22% longer larval development time on plants treated with low fertilizer rate than on plants with high rate was the most significant effect. Even though maximum plant height, canopy, biomass, and yield were significantly smaller in the organic than in conventional plots, the suitability of the plants was not affected except for reduced feeding by summer beetles. Summer adults spent less time feeding and consumed two to five times less foliage on organic potato than on inorganically fertilized and conventionally produced plants. The overall influence of fertilizer on Colorado potato beetle populations was limited and therefore can only play a secondary role in management strategies for organic potato. Avoidance of excessive organic fertilizer that promotes short larval development time and extension of the period over which large Colorado potato beetle larvae are present should be recommended.

The potato (Solanum spp.) is currently the leading non-grain commodity in the global food system with production exceeding 329 million metric tonnes in 2009. The extraordinary adaptive range of this species complex combined with ease of cultivation and high nutritional content have promoted steady i...

Basic laws of thermodynamics and mechanics are used to analyse an air gun. Such devices are often employed in outdoor physics demonstrations to launch potatoes using compressed gas that is here assumed to expand reversibly and adiabatically. Reasonable agreement is found with reported muzzle speeds for such homebuilt cannons. The treatment is accessible to undergraduate students who have taken calculus-based introductory physics.

Aminopyralid is used in Alaska to control certain invasive weed species; however it appears to have an extended soil half-life in interior Alaska resulting in carry-over injury in potatoes. Field studies at three experiment stations in Delta Junction, Fairbanks, and Palmer, Alaska were established ...

Basic laws of thermodynamics and mechanics are used to analyse an air gun. Such devices are often employed in outdoor physics demonstrations to launch potatoes using compressed gas that is here assumed to expand reversibly and adiabatically. Reasonable agreement is found with reported muzzle speeds for such homebuilt cannons. The treatment is…

The revival of biotechnology applications for potato raises interesting economic questions that we examine here. Technologies of this sort increase supply by decreasing waste and reducing percentage of off-grade product. Increased supply leads, eventually, to reductions in the market price, so that ...

Basic laws of thermodynamics and mechanics are used to analyse an air gun. Such devices are often employed in outdoor physics demonstrations to launch potatoes using compressed gas that is here assumed to expand reversibly and adiabatically. Reasonable agreement is found with reported muzzle speeds for such homebuilt cannons. The treatment is…

Everyone who grows or stores potatoes for chips or fries knows how challenging it is to deliver tubers that consistently produce light-colored fried products that meet processor and consumer expectations. Many factors contribute to dark color formation, including heat and water stress during tuber d...

Potato responses to different rates of pre-plant and in-season N management are evaluated under reduced and conventional tillage under center pivot irrigation. Tuber yield, tuber size distribution, and tuber specific gravity were largely similar across different tillage and N management practices. P...

Presents a number of simple exercises that demonstrate potato tuber characteristics and are designed for high school biology students and teachers. Exercises include Typing, Grading, Shape, Eye Characteristics, Defects, Specific Gravity, Dry Matter Content, Glucose Content, Baking, Frying/Chipping, and Taste Testing. (JRH)

Yellow nutsedge control in potato with imazosulfuron was evaluated in trials conducted on a sandy loam soil near Pasco, WA and on a silt loam soil near Ontario, OR in 2007. Imazosulfuron was tested at 0.34, 0.45, and 0.56 kg ai/ha applied preemergence (PRE), PRE followed by postemergence (POST), and...

A study was conducted to determine the ethanol production characteristics of sweet potatoes. Ethanol yields were as high as 137 liters per tonne of feedstock using procedures developed for grain. Major problems encountered were low ethanol concentrations in the beer and poor stillage dewatering properties.

A study was conducted to determine the ethanol production characteristics of sweet potatoes. Ethanol yields were as high as 137 liters per tonne of feedstock using procedures developed for grain. Major problems encountered were low ethanol concentrations in the beer and poor stillage dewatering properties.

Potato tubers are stored at cold temperatures to prevent sprouting, minimize disease losses and increase the marketing window. Cold storage also causes an accumulation of reducing sugars, a phenomenon referred to as cold-induced sweetening. Unacceptable, dark colored chips and fries are formed durin...

Potato starch is typically low in amylose (~20-25%), but high amylose starch has superior nutritional qualities. The ratio between amylose and amylopectin is the most important property influencing the physical properties of starch. There is a strong case to be made for the development of food crops...

American potato bean (Apios americana Medikus) is a nitrogen-fixing perennial leguminous vine that is native to the eastern half of the United States. In the wild, the plant prefers moist soils near bodies of water and full sunlight for at least part of the day. It grows well in waterlogged, acidi...

At harvest and for an indeterminate period thereafter potato tubers will not sprout and are physiologically dormant. The length of tuber dormancy is dependent on cultivar and pre- and postharvest environmental conditions. Plant hormones have been shown to be involved in all phases of dormancy prog...

Presents a number of simple exercises that demonstrate potato tuber characteristics and are designed for high school biology students and teachers. Exercises include Typing, Grading, Shape, Eye Characteristics, Defects, Specific Gravity, Dry Matter Content, Glucose Content, Baking, Frying/Chipping, and Taste Testing. (JRH)

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is among the major food crops in the world and is cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions particularly in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Asia and Africa regions account for 95% of the world's production. Among the root and tuber crops grown in the world, sweet potato ranks second after cassava. In previous decades, sweet potato represented food and feed security, now it offers income generation possibilities, through bioprocessing products. Bioprocessing of sweet potato offers novel opportunities to commercialize this crop by developing a number of functional foods and beverages such as sour starch, lacto-pickle, lacto-juice, soy sauce, acidophilus milk, sweet potato curd and yogurt, and alcoholic drinks through either solid state or submerged fermentation. Sweet potato tops, especially leaves are preserved as hay or silage. Sweet potato flour and bagassae are used as substrates for production of microbial protein, enzymes, organic acids, monosodium glutamate, chitosan, etc. Additionally, sweet potato is a promising candidate for production of bioethanol. This review deals with the development of various products from sweet potato by application of bioprocessing technology. To the best of our knowledge, there is no review paper on the potential impacts of the sweet potato bioprocessing.

We presented a model that estimates the bioconcentration factor (BCF) of pesticides in potatoes supposing that the pesticide in the soil solution is absorbed by the potato by passive diffusion, following Fick's second law. The pesticides in the model are nonionic organic substances, traditionally used in potato crops that degrade in the soil according to a first-order kinetic equation. This presents an expression that relates BCF with the pesticide elimination rate by the potato, with the pesticide accumulation rate within the potato, with the rate of growth of the potato and with the pesticide degradation rate in the soil. BCF was estimated supposing steady state equilibrium of the quotient between the pesticide concentration in the potato and the pesticide concentration in the soil solution. It is suggested that a negative correlation exists between the pesticide BCF and the soil sorption partition coefficient. The model was built based on the work of Trapp et al. [Trapp, S., Cammarano, A., Capri, E., Reichenberg, F., Mayer, P., 2007. Diffusion of PAH in potato and carrot slices and application for a potato model. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41 (9), 3103-3108], in which an expression to calculate the diffusivity of persistent organic substances in potatoes is presented. The model consists in adding to the expression of Trapp et al. [Trapp, S., Cammarano, A., Capri, E., Reichenberg, F., Mayer, P., 2007. Diffusion of PAH in potato and carrot slices and application for a potato model. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41 (9), 3103-3108] the hypothesis that the pesticide degrades in the soil. The value of BCF suggests which pesticides should be monitored in potatoes.

Zinc is a nutritionally essential truce element, and thus zinc deficiency (ZD) severely affects human health. More than 25% of the world's population is at risk of ZD. This study was initiated to examine the use of the vacuum impregnation (VI) technique for enriching zinc content of whole potatoes; the effect of vacuum time, restoration time, steam-cooking and storage at 4 °C on the zinc content of VI whole potatoes was evaluated. Whole potato tubers were immersed in a 9 g/100 g zinc (zinc gluconate) solution. Vacuum pressure of 1,000 Pa was applied for 0-120 min, and atmospheric pressure restoration for 0-4 h. Experimental results showed that the zinc content of VI potatoes increased with vacuum and restoration time. Moreover, VI-cooked unpeeled or peeled potatoes had 63-94 times and 47-75 times higher zinc contents than un-VI-cooked unpeeled or peeled potatoes, respectively. The world daily potato consumption (86 g) of the VI-cooked unpeeled and peeled potatoes provided adult men with 130-148% and 100-135% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of zinc, respectively. Also, the daily potato consumption of the unpeeled and peeled potatoes supplied adult women with 178-203% and 137-185% of the RDA level, respectively. In addition, the VI potatoes had 40 times higher zinc contents through 30 days of storage at 4 °C, compared with un-VI-treated potatoes. This study indicated that VI treatment of whole potatoes was useful for enriching the zinc content.

Potato phytonutrients include phenolic acids, flavonols, anthocyanins and carotenoids. Developmental effects on phytonutrient concentrations and gene expression was studied in white, yellow and purple potatoes. Purple potatoes contained the most total phenolics, which decreased during development (1...

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), is a vector of the phloem-limited bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (Lso), the putative causal agent of zebra chip disease of potato. Little is known about how potato psyllid transmits Lso to potato. We used ele...

Complete nucleotide sequences of Sweet potato virus G (SPVG) and Sweet potato virus 2 (SPV2) were determined to be 10,800 and 10,731 nucleotides, respectively, excluding the 3’-poly(A) tail in this study. Their genomic organization is typical of potyviruses, encoding a polyprotein which is likely cl...

The energy consumption for different operative conditions and configurations of the bioethanol production industrial process from an experimental variety of sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) K 9807.1 was evaluated. A process simulation model was developed using SuperPro Designer® software. The model was based on experimental data gathered from our laboratory experiments and technology and equipment suppliers. The effects of the dry matter ratio of sweet potato to water, the fermentation efficiency, and sweet potato sugar content, on the energy consumption (steam and electricity) were respectively evaluated. All factors were significant. The best ratio of dry matter to total water to work with fresh sweet potato was 0.2 kg dry sweet potato/kg water, as for greater ratios was not found a significant reduction in energy consumption. Also, the drying of the sweet potato previous its processing was studied. It presented an energy consumption greater than the energetic content of the bioethanol produced.

57 native potato tuber samples collected from different potato growing region of Iran, planted on single rows in Karaj College experimental station. Plant samples of each single row plus 9.25 Fresh foliage samples collected from fields under new introduced cultivars were tested for potato virus (PVM) infection during growing season. Also 78 weeds and field crops belonging to Solonacae and Leguminosae from or neighboring to potato field were tested. Results indicated that PVM was not found on any plant other than potatoes. PVM was detected on 16 samples of 57 old vars, Virus was not seen in any samples collected from fields under new varieties. Results show that PVM is limiting in this crop. PVM detecting is difficult using assay hosts. Best test plants were French bean var Red kidney, Showing pinpoint necrotic LL, also Datura metel and Nicotiana debneyi are useful for virus detection showing chlorotic local lesion. Also microprecipition and gel diffusion test can be used for virus detection but Elisa was the best method. PVM infected plant showed 11-19.5 percent yield decrease in 3 cultivars tested.

There has been a recent shift in the prevalence of Potato virus Y (PVY) strains affecting potato with the ordinary strain PVY(O) declining and the recombinant strains PVY(NTN) and PVY(N:O) emerging in the United States. Multiple PVY strains are commonly found in potato fields and even in individual plants. Factors contributing to the emergence of the recombinant strains are not well defined but differential aphid transmission of strains from single and mixed infections may play a role. We found that the transmission efficiencies by Myzus persicae, the green peach aphid, of PVY(NTN), PVY(N:O), and PVY(O) varied depending on the potato cultivar serving as the virus source. Overall transmission efficiency was highest from sources infected with three virus strains, whereas transmission from sources infected with one or two virus strains was not significantly different. Two strains were concomitantly transmitted by individual aphids from many of the mixed-source combinations, especially if PVY(O) was present. Triple-strain infections were not transmitted by any single aphid. PVY(O) was transmitted most efficiently from mixed-strain infection sources. The data do not support the hypothesis that differential transmission of PVY strains by M. persicae is a major contributing factor in the emergence of recombinant PVY strains in the U.S. potato crop.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) originates from the Andes and evolved short-day-dependent tuber formation as a vegetative propagation strategy. Here we describe the identification of a central regulator underlying a major-effect quantitative trait locus for plant maturity and initiation of tuber development. We show that this gene belongs to the family of DOF (DNA-binding with one finger) transcription factors and regulates tuberization and plant life cycle length, by acting as a mediator between the circadian clock and the StSP6A mobile tuberization signal. We also show that natural allelic variants evade post-translational light regulation, allowing cultivation outside the geographical centre of origin of potato. Potato is a member of the Solanaceae family and is one of the world's most important food crops. This annual plant originates from the Andean regions of South America. Potato develops tubers from underground stems called stolons. Its equatorial origin makes potato essentially short-day dependent for tuberization and potato will not make tubers in the long-day conditions of spring and summer in the northern latitudes. When introduced in temperate zones, wild material will form tubers in the course of the autumnal shortening of day-length. Thus, one of the first selected traits in potato leading to a European potato type is likely to have been long-day acclimation for tuberization. Potato breeders can exploit the naturally occurring variation in tuberization onset and life cycle length, allowing varietal breeding for different latitudes, harvest times and markets.

In Japan, 8 lines of genetically modified (GM) potato (2 lines of NewLeaf potato; NL, 3 lines of NewLeaf Plus potato; NLP, and 3 lines of NewLeaf Y potato; NLY) have already been authorized as safe for use in foods and feeds. We have developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for the qualitative detection of the GM potatoes for the screening and the identification of NL, NLP and NLY. The gene encoding uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose pyrophosphorylase (UGPase) was used as a taxon specific gene. We designed the primer pair to detect the cryIIIA genes as a screening method for GM potatoes because the gene should be inserted in all 8 lines of the GM potatoes. For identification of NL, NLP and NLY, we further designed three specific primer pairs for the different recombinant DNAs (r-DNA) specifically introduced into NL, NLP, or NLY. In addition, to identify the 3 lines of NLY that have been introduced with the same r-DNA, the three line-specific primer pairs for the border sequence between the r-DNA and genomic DNA of NLY 3 lines were designed. Six lines of GM potato used as the test material were specifically identified using the each primer pair under the same PCR condition. The detection limits of all the GM potatoes should be approximately 0.1%. Furthermore, the specificity and reproducibility of the methods were confirmed in a six-laboratory collaborative study.

Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) was purified from infected potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) with yields of 0.4-0.6 mg/kg of foliage. The virus sedimented as a single component of 127 S. An antiserum prepared against purified virus had a maximum titer of 1:1024 in agar gel double diffusion tests. PLRV had a buoyant density of 1.39 g/ml and an estimated nucleic acid content of 28%. The nucleic acid had a molecular weight of 2.0 x 10(6) and was degraded by RNase but not by DNase, indicating that the PLRV nucleic acid is RNA. The sedimentation coefficient of the RNA molecule was 34.5 S and after treatment with formaldehyde, 20.7 S. Dissociated coat protein migrated as a single band in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the average subunit molecular weight was 26,300. PLRV should be considered a member of the luteovirus group.

Cryopreservation is becoming a very important tool for the long-term storage of plant genetic resources and efficient cryopreservation protocols have been developed for a large number of plant species. Practical procedures, developed using in vitro tissue culture, can be a simple and reliable preservation option of potato genetic resources rather than maintaining by vegetative propagation in genebanks due their allogamous nature. Cryopreserved materials insure a long-term backup of field collections against loss of plant germplasm. Occurrence of genetic variation, in tissue culture cells during prolonged subcultures, can be avoided with suitable cryopreservation protocols that provide high regrowth, leading and facilitating a systematic and strategic cryo-banking of plant genetic resources. Cryopreservation protocols for potato reviewed here, can efficiently complement field and in vitro conservation, providing for preservation of genotypes difficult to preserve by other methods, wild types and other species decided as priority collections. PMID:25931979

Potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cvs. Russet Burbank, Norland, and Denali) were grown for 56 days in controlled-environment rooms under continuous light at 20C and 50% or 85% RH. No significant differences in total plant dry weight were measured between the humidity treatments, but plants grown under 85% RH produced higher tuber yields. Leaf areas were greater under 50% RH and leaves tended to be larger and darker green than at 85% RH.

Electron transport fluxes in the potato plateau regime are calculated from the solutions of the drift kinetic equation and fluid equations. It is found that the bootstrap current density remains finite in the region close to the magnetic axis, although it decreases with increasing collision frequency. This finite amount of the bootstrap current in the relatively collisional regime is important in modeling tokamak startup with 100{percent} bootstrap current. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

Potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cvs. Russet Burbank, Norland, and Denali) were grown for 56 days in controlled-environment rooms under continuous light at 20C and 50% or 85% RH. No significant differences in total plant dry weight were measured between the humidity treatments, but plants grown under 85% RH produced higher tuber yields. Leaf areas were greater under 50% RH and leaves tended to be larger and darker green than at 85% RH.

Potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. cvs. Russet Burbank, Norland, and Denali) were grown for 56 days in controlled-environment rooms under continuous light at 20C and 50% or 85% RH. No significant differences in total plant dry weight were measured between the humidity treatments, but plants grown under 85% RH produced higher tuber yields. Leaf areas were greater under 50% RH and leaves tended to be larger and darker green than at 85% RH.

A quantitative human dietary risk assessment was conducted using the glycoalkaloid concentrations measured from tubers of plants defoliated by Colorado potato beetles and undefoliated (control). There was a significantly greater production of glycoalkaloids for defoliated plants compared to control plants for both skin and inner tissue of tubers. The dietary risk posed to different human subgroups associated with the consumption of potatoes was estimated for the 50th, 95th, and 99.9th percentile US national consumption values. Exposures were compared to a toxic threshold of 1.0mg/kg body weight. Defoliation by Colorado potato beetles increased dietary risk by approximately 48%. Glycoalkaloid concentrations within the inner tissue of tubers, including undefoliated controls, exceeded the toxic threshold for all human subgroups at less than the 99.9th percentile of exposure, but not the 95th percentile.

Potato clones from five different breeding populations were evaluated for their relative resistance and susceptibility to Pratylenchus penetrans. Resistance and susceptibility were distinguished by an index of susceptibility (SI) calculated from the numbers of P. penetrans (including eggs) per g of root of individual clones in relation to that of a susceptible control at 30 or 70 days after inoculation. Evaluations were carried out using 7.5-cm clay pots in a growth chamber at 24 C with 15-hour day length. In the initial evaluation, 70 days after inoculation, the SI of individual clones ranged from 0.01 to 0.75. Clones that supported the least P. penetrans were from a breeding population derived from Solanum tuberosum ssp. andigena that was originally selected for its resistance to the potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida. In succeeding tests, these clones had a significantly low SI than did susceptible controls or cultivars that were previously reported to possess resistance to P. penetrans, except cv. Hudson. Resistance to P. penetrans from the Pallida-resistant breeding population was incorporated into potato germplasm better adapted to North American growing conditions. PMID:19279796

Potato clones from five different breeding populations were evaluated for their relative resistance and susceptibility to Pratylenchus penetrans. Resistance and susceptibility were distinguished by an index of susceptibility (SI) calculated from the numbers of P. penetrans (including eggs) per g of root of individual clones in relation to that of a susceptible control at 30 or 70 days after inoculation. Evaluations were carried out using 7.5-cm clay pots in a growth chamber at 24 C with 15-hour day length. In the initial evaluation, 70 days after inoculation, the SI of individual clones ranged from 0.01 to 0.75. Clones that supported the least P. penetrans were from a breeding population derived from Solanum tuberosum ssp. andigena that was originally selected for its resistance to the potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida. In succeeding tests, these clones had a significantly low SI than did susceptible controls or cultivars that were previously reported to possess resistance to P. penetrans, except cv. Hudson. Resistance to P. penetrans from the Pallida-resistant breeding population was incorporated into potato germplasm better adapted to North American growing conditions.

The purpose of this study was to improve the somatic embryo (SE) system for plant production of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L(Lam)). Explants isolated from SE-derived sweet potato plants were compared with control (non SE-derived) plants for their competency for SE production. Leaf explants were cultured on Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium with 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (0.2 mg/L) and 6-benzylaminopurine (2.5 mg/L) for 2 weeks in darkness and transferred to MS medium with abscisic acid (2.5 mg/L). Explants isolated from those plants developed through somatic embryogenesis produced new somatic embryos rapidly and in higher frequency than those isolated from control plants They also appeared to grow faster in tissue culture than the control plants. Current studies in the laboratory are examining whether plants derived from a cyclical embryogenesis system (five cycles) would have any further positive impact on the rapidity and frequency of somatic embryo development. More detailed studies using electron microscopy are expected to show the point of origin of the embryos and to allow determination of their quality throughout the cyclical process. This study may facilitate improved plant micropropagation, gene transfer and germplasm conservation in sweet potato.

A protein with molecular weight of 21 kD denoted as PKSI has been isolated from potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Istrinskii). The isolation procedure includes precipitation with (NH4)2SO4, gel chromatography on Sephadex G-75, and ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Sepharose CL-6B. The protein effectively inhibits the activity of subtilisin Carlsberg (Ki = 1.67 +/- 0.2 nM) by stoichiometric complexing with the enzyme at the molar ratio of 1 : 1. The inhibitor has no effect on trypsin, chymotrypsin, and the cysteine proteinase papain. The N-terminal sequence of the protein consists of 19 amino acid residues and is highly homologous to sequences of the known inhibitors from group C of the subfamily of potato Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitors (PKPIs-C). By cloning PCR products from the genomic DNA of potato, a gene denoted as PKPI-C2 was isolated and sequenced. The N-terminal sequence (residues from 15 to 33) of the protein encoded by the PKPI-C2 gene is identical to the N-terminal sequence (residues from 1 to 19) of the isolated protein PKSI. Thus, the inhibitor PKSI is very likely encoded by this gene.

Potato is the fourth main crop consumed worldwide and is an important constituent in the human diet. Consequently, potato is widely used in food-processing industries. However, these industries generate massive amounts of potato peel (PP) as a by-product, which is usually considered a waste, and is discarded. Interestingly, recent research suggests that PP is a valuable source of bioactive compounds, which can be converted into value-added products. In this study, we review the physicochemical composition and valorization of PP. In addition to being used as a dietary fiber or medicine, the value-added products obtained by the fermentation of PP have multiple uses, including their use as adsorbents, biocomposites and packaging materials. These products can also be used in energy production, biopolymer film development, corrosion inhibition and the synthesis of cellulose nanocrystals. The biorefinery approach for PP will increase the value of this waste by producing an array of value-added products and reducing extensive waste generation.

Guatemalan potato moth, Tecia solanivora, lay eggs in the soil nearby potato Solanum spp. and larvae feed on the tubers. We investigated the oviposition behaviour of T. solanivora females and the survival of larval offspring on healthy vs. stressed, i.e. light exposed and/or damaged potato tubers. In choice tests, females laid significantly more eggs in response to potato odour of healthy tubers and female oviposition preference correlated with higher larval survival. Survival of larvae was negatively correlated with the tuber content of the steroid glycoalkaloids α-solanine and α-chaconine: healthy potatoes contained lower amounts than stressed tubers, ranging from 25 to 500 μg g⁻¹ and from 30 to 600 μg g⁻¹, respectively. Analysis of volatile compounds emitted by potato tubers revealed that stressed tubers could clearly be distinguished from healthy tubers by the composition of their volatile profiles. Compounds that contributed to this difference were e.g. decanal, nonanal, isopropyl myristate, phenylacetaldehyde, benzothiazole, heptadecane, octadecane, myristicin, E,E-α-farnesene and verbenone. Oviposition assays, when female moths were not in contact with the tubers, clearly demonstrated that volatiles guide the females to lay fewer eggs on stressed tubers that are of inferior quality for the larvae. We propose that volatiles, such as sesquiterpenes and aldehydes, mediate oviposition behaviour and are correlated with biosynthetically related, non-volatile compounds, such as steroidal glycoalkaloids, which influence larval survival. We conclude that the oviposition response and larval survival of T. solanivora on healthy vs. stressed tubers supports the preference performance hypothesis for insect herbivores.

Potato cold-induced sweetening (CIS) is critical for the postharvest quality of potato tubers. Starch degradation is considered to be one of the key pathways in the CIS process. However, the functions of the genes that encode enzymes related to starch degradation in CIS and the activity regulation of these enzymes have received less attention. A potato amylase inhibitor gene known as SbAI was cloned from the wild potato species Solanum berthaultii. This genetic transformation confirmed that in contrast to the SbAI suppression in CIS-resistant potatoes, overexpressing SbAI in CIS-sensitive potatoes resulted in less amylase activity and a lower rate of starch degradation accompanied by a lower reducing sugar (RS) content in cold-stored tubers. This finding suggested that the SbAI gene may play crucial roles in potato CIS by modulating the amylase activity. Further investigations indicated that pairwise protein-protein interactions occurred between SbAI and α-amylase StAmy23, β-amylases StBAM1 and StBAM9. SbAI could inhibit the activities of both α-amylase and β-amylase in potato tubers primarily by repressing StAmy23 and StBAM1, respectively. These findings provide the first evidence that SbAI is a key regulator of the amylases that confer starch degradation and RS accumulation in cold-stored potato tubers.

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR, EC1.1.1.34), the key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthesis, was purified from microsomes of potato tuber tissue, and a polyclonal antibody and two monoclonal antibodies against the purified enzyme were prepared. HMGR protein content was measured by immunotitration and radioimmunoassay using these antibodies. HMGR activity was very low in the fresh tissues of both potato tuber and sweet potato root. The activity in potato tuber was increased by cutting and further by additional fungal infection of the cut tissues. In sweet potato root tissue, the activity was scarcely increased after cutting alone, but was markedly increased by additional fungal infection or chemical treatment. The HMGR protein contents in both fresh potato tuber and sweet potato root tissues were also very low, and increased markedly in response to cutting and fungal infection. From these results, we proposed a hypothesis on the induction mechanism of HMGR after cutting and fungal infection in potato tuber and sweet potato root tissues.

The carotenoid zeaxanthin accumulates in the human macula lutea and protects retinal cells from blue light damage. However, zeaxanthin intake from food sources is low. Increasing zeaxanthin in common foods such as potatoes by traditional plant breeding or by genetic engineering could contribute to an increased intake of this carotenoid and, consequently, to a decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration. Our aim was to investigate whether zeaxanthin from genetically modified zeaxanthin-rich potatoes is bioavailable in humans. Three men participated in this randomized, controlled double-blinded, crossover pilot study. All subjects consumed 1,100 g of mashed potatoes, either genetically modified (Solanum tuberosum L. var. Baltica GM47/18; 3 mg zeaxanthin) or wild-type control potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L. var. Baltica; 0.14 mg zeaxanthin). A second treatment was followed after a 7-day wash-out period. The concentration of zeaxanthin was significantly increased in chylomicrons after consumption of genetically modified potatoes and 0.27 mg of the 3 mg zeaxanthin dose could be detected in chylomicrons. Consumption of control potatoes had no effect on concentrations of zeaxanthin in chylomicrons. After normalization of chylomicron zeaxanthin for plasma triacylglycerol, the time course of zeaxanthin concentrations peaked at 7 h after consumption of genetically modified potatoes. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of other major potato carotenoids such as lutein and beta-carotene in chylomicrons after consumption of genetically modified and wild type control potatoes. Thus, consumption of zeaxanthin-rich potatoes significantly increases chylomicron zeaxanthin concentrations suggesting that potentially such potatoes could be used as an important dietary source of zeaxanthin.

We sought to determine analytically the potassium content of different varieties of raw potatoes, and to estimate the amount of potassium that can be extracted or leached from raw potatoes by cooking. Six different varieties of fresh potatoes were obtained from the Whole Foods Market in Manhasset, New York. Two different cooking methods (normal cooking [NC] and double cooking [DC]) were applied to each potato. Potassium was extracted from the ash of dried samples. The potassium content of aqueous extractions was ascertained by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Mean potassium content was highest in the purple Viking potato (448.1 +/- 60.5 mg [11.5 +/- 1.6 mEq]/100 g [values are mean +/- SD unless otherwise noted]), and lowest in the Idaho potato (295 +/- 15.7 mg [7.6 +/- 0.4 mEq]/100 g). All raw potatoes had a mean potassium content of about 300 mg (7.7 mEq)/100 g or greater. The DC method resulted in a greater reduction in potassium from raw potatoes than the NC method. All potatoes retained a mean potassium content greater than 200 mg (5.1 mEq)/100 g, using the NC versus the DC method. The potassium content of the raw potatoes studied varied considerably, with most tubers retaining a moderate amount of potassium after leaching. This study showed that the DC method appears to be more effective than the NC method in leaching potassium from the potatoes studied. Our findings provide useful information for dietitians involved in menu planning for people on potassium-restricted diets.

Potatoes, which had been treated 'in the field' with a commercial formulation of maleic hydrazide, were processed into potato crisps and jacket potato crisps on a factory production line using standard manufacturing conditions. Samples were taken at strategic points throughout the process and analysed to determine the degree of carry-through of residues. Results demonstrated that ca 56% of the maleic hydrazide residue in a potato could be carried through into the potato crisps, irrespective of which type of crisp was being manufactured. Results from a similarly constructed study investigating the fate of pesticides applied post-harvest showed that carry-through was less than 10%. This difference is explained in terms of the different modes of action of the two classes of pesticides being investigated. It is known that, as maleic hydrazide is a systemic pesticide, it will be located within the flesh of the potato tuber and is therefore likely to be protected from the various stages of the crisping process. However, the post-harvest non-systemic pesticides are applied to the exterior surface of the tuber and are therefore not likely to be protected in the same way. The results also showed that, due to the concentration effect caused by the loss of moisture during crisp manufacture, the levels of maleic hydrazide residues in crisps (on a mg/kg product basis) were approximately twice those measured in the original potatoes.

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive spherically-shaped bacterium capable of producing heat-stable enterotoxins that cause acute gastrointestinal diseases. The growth of this pathogen in food is a major threat to public health worldwide. Potato salad is a frequent vehicle for infection and food poisoning caused by S. aureus. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the growth kinetics of S. aureus in cooked potato and potato salad. Samples of potato cubes and potato salad inoculated with S. aureus were incubated at temperatures between 8 and 43 °C to observe its growth for developing growth models. No growth was observed at 8 °C. The experimental results showed that the growth curves did not exhibit lag phases, and can be described by a 3-parameter logistic model. A one-step kinetic analysis approach was used to simultaneously analyze all growth curves by direct construction of both the primary and secondary (Ratkowsky square root) models using nonlinear regression to minimize the global residual error. The estimated nominal minimum growth temperature of S. aureus was 6.12 °C in potato cubes and 8.80 °C in potato salad. The estimated maximum growth temperatures of S. aureus in potato cubes and potato salad were very close to each other (46.3 and 46.8 °C, respectively). On the average, the specific growth rates of S. aureus in potato cubes were approximately 70% higher than those in potato salad. This study suggests that cooked potato and potato salad should be stored below 6 °C or above 47 °C to prevent the growth of S. aureus. The mathematical models and kinetic parameters can be used to accurately evaluate the effect of temperature abuse on the growth of S. aureus and conduct risk assessments of S. aureus in cooked potato and potato salad. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Controlled environment studies with potato frequently assume responses from single-stem potato plants can be extrapolated to the field where multiple-stem plants are common. Two controlled environment studies were conducted in order to characterize differences in canopy growth, development, and dry...

Since snacks high in fats are known to be a significant source of fat and energy intake, these have been put in high dietary restraint category. Therefore, an attempt was made to process potato chips through microwave processing without incorporation of any oil in potato chips. Microwave processing of potato chips was done using microwave power varying from 180 to 600 W using constant sample size. Among eleven different drying models, Parabolic model was found to be the best fit through non-linear regression analysis to illustrate drying kinetics of potato chips. The structural, textural and colour attributes of microwaved potato chips were similar to commercial fried potato chips. It was found that at 600 W after 2.5-3.0 min of processing, potato chips gained the fracturability and crispiness index as that of commercial fried chips. Microwave processing was found suitable for processing of potato chips with low fat content (~3.09 vs 35.5 % in commercial preparation) and with acceptable sensory scores (≥7.6 on 9.0 point on hedonic scale vs 8.0 of control preparation).

Developing profitable crop rotations is a top research priority for the potato industry. An interdisciplinary team of ARS scientists from the New England Plant, Soil, & Water Laboratory evaluated 14 rotations for their impacts on potato yield and quality, nutrient availability, plant diseases, soil ...

Pratylenchus neglectus and Meloidogyne chitwoodi are the main plant-parasitic nematodes in potato crops of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. Bacterial microbiome (16S rRNA copies per gram of soil) and nematode communities (nematodes per 200 gr of soil) from five different potato farms were analyzed to ...

Specimens collected from sweet potato plants with slime mold symptoms in fields in Daejeon, Korea were examined. Two species of Myxomycetes, Fuligo septica and Stemonitis herbatica were identified based on their morphological characteristics. This is the first report that the two species of Myxomycetes cause slime mold of sweet potato in Korea. PMID:24015079

Potato tuber is mostly water and starch. Approximately 20% of fresh tuber weight is the starch and the remainder is water. Most of the starch in the tuber, approximately 75%, is amylopectin and 25% amylose, but can vary depending on the cultivar. A total of 162 American (85) and foreign (77) potato ...

The accumulation of reducing sugars during cold storage of potato tubers is a serious and costly problem for producers and processors. Most, but not all, currently used potato cultivars are susceptible to Acold sweetening and are therefore stored at warmer temperatures that can accelerate disease p...

Purple potatoes were used as raw material to study the purple potato wine production process and antioxidant activity. This paper analyzed different fermentation time, fermentation temperature, yeast inoculum, initial pH, the initial sugar content on alcohol and anthocyanin contents of purple potato wine by single factor experiments and response surface methodology(RSM). The results showed that the optimum fermentation conditions of purple potato wine were as follows: fermentation temperature was 26oC, yeast inoculum was 0.15%, fermentation time was 7 d, initial pH was 3.0 and initial sugar content was 11 %. Under these conditions the alcohol and anthocyanin contents of purple potato wine could reach 10.55%/Vol and 6.42 μg/mL, respectively. The purple potato wine was purple, bright in colour, pleasant fragrance and pure taste. Prepared purple potato wine had the ability of reducing Fe3+ and scavenging superoxide anion radicals, which meant that purple potato wine had certain antioxidant activity. PMID:26998173

‘Harley Blackwell’ is a potato variety that is commonly grown for the potato chip market. It was selected from the progeny of a cross between B0155-24 and B9935-8, and tested under the pedigree B0564-8. It was released and named jointly by the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department ...

Potato is an economically important staple crop prevailing all across the world with successful large-scale production, consumption, and affordability with easy availability in the open market. Potatoes provide basic nutrients such as-carbohydrates, dietary fiber (skin), several vitamins, and minerals (e.g., potassium, magnesium, iron). On occasion exposures to raw and cooked potatoes impart allergic reactions. Dietary intake of potatoes, especially colored potatoes, play an important role in the production of antioxidant defense system by providing essential nutrient antioxidants, such as vitamins, β-carotene, polyphenols, and minerals. This may help lower the incidence of wide range of chronic and acute disease processes (like hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative, and other diseases). However, retention of nutrients in potatoes is affected by various cooking and processing methods. Cooking at elevated temperature also produces acrylamide-a suspected carcinogen. Independent and/or collaborative studies have been conducted and reported on the various pathways leading to the formation of acrylamide in heat processed foods. This article reviews the latest research on potato production, consumption, nature of phytochemicals and their health benefits, and allergic reactions to children. Also included is the discovery of acrylamide in processed starch-rich foods including potatoes, mechanism of formation, detection methodologies, and mitigation steps to reduce acrylamide content in food.

The potential of potato juice in relieving gastrointestinal disorders has already been proven. Work continues on implementation of this active component into products that are widely consumed. In this article, results of an attempt to fortify pasta with potato juice are presented and discussed. Fortification is performed using fresh and dried juice. The influence of the addition on culinary properties of the final product, such as cooking weight and cooking loss, as well as microstructure, color, texture, and consumer acceptance were evaluated. It was found that potato juice can be used for fortification of pasta both in its fresh and dried forms, however the effects on different responses depend on the potato juice form used. The addition of potato juice influenced the color of the product reducing its lightness and shifting color balances from green to red, yellow color saturation was decreased as well. Changes in color were more significant in the case of fresh juice addition. The firmness and microstructure of pasta was also influenced. The surface microstructure of pasta containing fresh potato juice was different from that of the other 2 products being a likely explanation of the lower cooking loss observed in its case. In contrast, the consistency of dough was strengthened by addition of dried potato juice. Principal components analysis indicated that the color change had the most pronounced effect on consumer acceptance. Other physicochemical changes were slightly less significant. Nevertheless, sensory evaluation proved that functional pasta produced with fresh potato juice finds consumer acceptance comparable with that of classic pasta.

The accumulation of reducing sugars during cold storage of potato tubers is a serious and costly problem for producers and processors. Most, but not all, currently used potato cultivars are susceptible to Acold sweetening and are therefore stored at warmer temperatures that can accelerate disease p...

Begomoviruses infecting sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) exhibit high genetic diversity, and approximately eight species including Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) have been described from different regions around the world. In this study, the complete genomic sequences of 17 geographically dist...

Dormancy hinders progress in attempts to fast track potato tuber generations. In this study, we evaluated the ability of gibberellic acid (GA) to overcome dormancy in freshly harvested tubers of eleven potato cultivars in two years of field trials. Tubers were wounded and dipped in 0, 10, 100, and 1...

Potato bean (Apios americana Medikus) is a nitrogen-fixing, perennial, leguminous vine indigenous to the eastern half of the United States. This vine climbs on plants and objects making its foliage accessible to browsing animals. We have observed deer eating potato bean foliage. Both deer and goa...

The cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum Gp. tuberosum) is an asexually propagated cross-pollinated autotetraploid crop, for which breeding methodology has not changed in 100 years. Current methods for breeding potato cultivars are genetically inefficient due to polyploidy, resource intensive due to...

Complexities due to tetraploid genetics limit breeding progress in potato. Diploids offer more simple genetics. Homozygous populations such as recombinant inbred lines are powerful resources for genetic mapping and the subsequent development of markers for marker-assisted selection. Most potato dipl...

Potato growth, yield, and quality under improved irrigation methods and water uniformity is important to enhance water management in arid regions. A field experiment was conducted in 2014 spring and fall growing seasons using potato (Solanum tuberosum) grown in northern Egypt at Shibin El Kom, Menof...

White potatoes are a forgotten source of nutrients. The goal of this study was to identify the nutritional implications of replacing a composite of white potatoes with a composite of vegetables commonly consumed by children aged 2–18 y (n = 3460) in a nationally representative sample. The NHANES 200...

The commercial storage of potato tubers is largely dependent on the natural process of meristem dormancy and the application of growth suppressants or sprout inhibitors. Currently there are a limited number of compounds that can be applied to potato tubers to prevent sprouting. One of the most commo...

Proteinase inhibitors, purified independently from Japanese, United States, and German potato varieties, and having different physicochemical and inhibitory properties, are shown to be immunochemically similar. These results indicate that the heterogeneity found among proteinase inhibitors from potato tubers is apparently due both to intervarietal, as well as intravarietal, variations in isoinhibitor components. Images PMID:16659744

Potato early dying has not received the reputation of being a particularly devastating disease of potato. However, the interaction between the vascular fungus Verticillium dahliae and the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus penetrans to form the early dying complex makes studying this disease very in...

The potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a tuber that is largely used for food and is a source of different bioactive compounds such as starch, dietary fiber, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds are synthetized by the potato plant as a protection response from bacteria, fungi, viruses, and insects. Several works showed that these potato compounds exhibited health-promoting effects in humans. However, the use of the potato in the food industry submits this vegetable to different processes that can alter the phenolic content. Moreover, many of these compounds with high bioactivity are located in the potato's skin, and so are eliminated as waste. In this review the most recent articles dealing with phenolic compounds in the potato and potato byproducts, along with the effects of harvesting, post-harvest, and technological processes, have been reviewed. Briefly, the phenolic composition, main extraction, and determination methods have been described. In addition, the "alternative" food uses and healthy properties of potato phenolic compounds have been addressed.

Potato is the third most important food crop in the world. However, genetics and genomics research of potato has lagged behind many major crop species due to its autotetraploidy and a highly heterogeneous genome. Insertional mutagenesis using T-DNA or transposable elements, which is available in sev...

The bacterial pathogen Streptomyces scabies produces lesions on potato tubers, reducing their marketability and profitability. M6 and 524-8 are two closely related inbred diploid lines of the wild potato species Solanum chacoense. After testing in both field and greenhouse assays, it was found that ...

Breeding within potato has relied almost entirely on phenotypic selection and little is known of the underlying genetic elements being acted upon. To characterize the effects of this selection on phenotypic and genotypic diversity within cultivated potato, the SolCAP 8300 Infinium SNP chip was utili...

The taxonomy of cultivated potatoes has been highly controversial, with estimates of species numbers ranging from 3 to 17. Ploidy level has been one of the most important taxonomic characters to recognize cultivated potato species, containing diploid (2 n = 2 x = 24), triploid (2 n = 3 x = 36), tetr...

The taxonomy of cultivated potatoes has been highly controversial, with estimates of species numbers ranging from 3-18. Ploidy level has been one of the most important taxonomic characters to recognize cultivated potato species, with diploid (2n = 2x = 24), triploid (2n = 3x = 36), tetraploid (2n = ...

Potato tuber is a highly nutritious, wherein genotype and environmental differences are known to exist in the shape, size and nutritional value of potatoes. Owing to its high consumption, potato could be an ideal carrier of health-promoting phytochemicals. Potato cultivars contain many bioactive lipidic compounds such as fatty acids, glycolipids, phospholipids, sterols, tocols and carotenoids, which are highly desirable in diet because of their health-promoting effects. In the scientific literature, information on the content and profile of bioactive lipidic compounds in potato cultivars are few. The concentration and stability of bioactive lipids are affected by many factors such as genotype, agronomic factors, postharvest storage, cooking and processing conditions. In this review levels and composition of bioactive lipids in terms of lipid classes, fatty acids, phytosterols, tocopherols, and caroteinoids distribution in different potato cultivars including genetically modified potato (GMP) were highlighted and discussed. In addition, factors affecting bioactive lipids levels, stability and health benefits are reviewed. In consideration of potential nutritional value, detailed knowledge on lipids of potato cultivars is of major importance.

Approximately 20% of potato tuber fresh weight is starch, which is composed of amylose (straight chains of glucose) and amylopectin (branched chains). Potato starch is low in amylose (~25%), but high amylose starch has superior nutritional qualities. Amylose content has been determined in tuber samp...

Specimens collected from sweet potato plants with slime mold symptoms in fields in Daejeon, Korea were examined. Two species of Myxomycetes, Fuligo septica and Stemonitis herbatica were identified based on their morphological characteristics. This is the first report that the two species of Myxomycetes cause slime mold of sweet potato in Korea.

A bright, attractive, uniformly pigmented skin is critically important for fresh market red-skinned potatoes. We will summarize what is known about the potato skin development, with an emphasis on pigment accumulation and loss. We will provide some insight into what may be responsible for changes in...

Potato storage makes the crop available over an extended time period, but increases financial risk to growers and end users. Senescence sweetening limits storage duration for chip and fry processing potatoes because it results in an unacceptable accumulation of reducing sugars that result in dark-co...

Efficient management of ex-situ collections includes understanding how conservation technologies impact the genetic diversity and integrity of these collections. For over 60 years, research at the US Potato Genebank has produced helpful scientific insights on diverse aspects of potato conservation. ...

Targeted mutagenesis using sequence-specific nucleases (SSNs) has been well established in several important crop species, but is in need of improvement in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). For over a century, potatoes have been bred as autotetraploids (2n = 4x = 48), relying on F1 selections and clona...

The US Potato Genebank at Sturgeon Bay, WI, is the active national germplasm collection for the world's most important vegetable crop. It contains about 6,000 accessions of 100 species of tuber-bearing relatives of Solanum tuberosum. The potato of commerce is a clonal crop susceptible to many syste...

The US Potato Genebank at Sturgeon Bay, WI, is the active national germplasm collection for the world's most important vegetable crop. It contains 6,000 accessions of 100 species of tuber-bearing relatives of Solanum tuberosum. The potato of commerce is a clonal crop susceptible to many systemic pa...

The potato of commerce has two wild relatives in the USA, Solanum jamesii (jam) and S. fendleri (fen). The authors have collected samples at the natural habitats since 1992 (new), greatly increasing the geographic coverage and number of populations compared to what was in the US Potato Genebank avai...

We examined the effects of temperature on acquisition of Potato virus Y-O (PVY-O), Potato virus A (PVA), and Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) by Myzus persicae by performing transmission tests with aphids that acquired each virus at different temperatures. Infection by PVY-O/PVA and PLRV increased with increasing plant temperature in Nicotiana benthamiana and Physalis floridana, respectively, after being transmitted by aphids that acquired them within a temperature range of 10–20°C. However, infection rates subsequently decreased. Direct qRT-PCR of RNA extracted from a single aphid showed that PLRV infection increased in the 10–20°C range, but this trend also declined shortly thereafter. We examined the effect of temperature on establishment of virus infection. The greatest number of plants became infected when N. benthamiana was held at 20°C after inoculation with PVY-O or PVA. The largest number of P. floridana plants became infected with PLRV when the plants were maintained at 25°C. PLRV levels were highest in P. floridana kept at 20–25°C. These results indicate that the optimum temperatures for proliferation of PVY-O/PVA and PLRV differed. Western blot analysis showed that accumulations of PVY-O and PVA coat proteins (CPs) were lower at 10°C or 15°C than at 20°C during early infection. However, accumulation increased over time. At 25°C or 30°C, the CPs of both viruses accumulated during early infection but disappeared as time passed. Our results suggest that symptom attenuation and reduction of PVY-O and PVA CP accumulation at higher temperatures appear to be attributable to increased RNA silencing. PMID:27493607

In 2006, 2007, and 2008, Alturas, Russet Burbank, FL1867, FL1879, Russet Norkotah, Ranger Russet, Shepody, and Umatilla Russet potatoes were planted at a research farm near Moxee, WA. Plants were allowed to become infested with native populations of the beet leafhopper which are known vectors of t...

To investigate the dynamics of the potato – Potato virus Y (PVY) compatible interaction in relation to salicylic acid - controlled pathways we performed experiments using non-transgenic potato cv. Désirée, transgenic NahG-Désirée, cv. Igor and PVYNTN, the most aggressive strain of PVY. The importance of salicylic acid in viral multiplication and symptom development was confirmed by pronounced symptom development in NahG-Désirée, depleted in salicylic acid, and reversion of the effect after spraying with 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid (a salicylic acid - analogue). We have employed quantitative PCR for monitoring virus multiplication, as well as plant responses through expression of selected marker genes of photosynthetic activity, carbohydrate metabolism and the defence response. Viral multiplication was the slowest in inoculated potato of cv. Désirée, the only asymptomatic genotype in the study. The intensity of defence-related gene expression was much stronger in both sensitive genotypes (NahG-Désirée and cv. Igor) at the site of inoculation than in asymptomatic plants (cv. Désirée). Photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism gene expression differed between the symptomatic and asymptomatic phenotypes. The differential gene expression pattern of the two sensitive genotypes indicates that the outcome of the interaction does not rely simply on one regulatory component, but similar phenotypical features can result from distinct responses at the molecular level. PMID:22194976

The effect of temperature on the rate of systemic infection of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Chu-Baek) by Potato virus Y (PVY) was studied in growth chambers. Systemic infection of PVY was observed only within the temperature range of 16°C to 32°C. Within this temperature range, the time required for a plant to become infected systemically decreased from 14 days at 20°C to 5.7 days at 28°C. The estimated lower thermal threshold was 15.6°C and the thermal constant was 65.6 degree days. A systemic infection model was constructed based on experimental data, using the infection rate (Lactin-2 model) and the infection distribution (three-parameter Weibull function) models, which accurately described the completion rate curves to systemic infection and the cumulative distributions obtained in the PVY-potato system, respectively. Therefore, this model was useful to predict the progress of systemic infections by PVY in potato plants, and to construct the epidemic models. PMID:28381967

Mitochondria from 24-hour-aged potato slices possess an alternative path capacity and a 36kD protein not present in fresh potato mitochondria. This 36kD protein was identified by a monoclonal antibody against the Sauromatum guttatum alternative oxidase. These results suggest de novo synthesis of the 36kD protein during the aging process. To investigate this phenomenon, a clone containing a potato alternative oxidase gene was isolated from a cDNA library using the S. guttatum gene as a probe. This clone shows areas of high homology to the S. guttatum gene. Norther blots of RNA from fresh and 24-hour-aged potato slices are being probed with the potato gene to examine its expression in relation to the appearance of the 36kD protein.

Potatoes are a popular source of dietary carbohydrate worldwide and are generally considered to be a high glycemic index (GI) food. Potato starch characteristics play a key role in determining their rate of digestion and resulting glycemic response. Starches isolated from seven potato cultivars with different GI values, including a low GI cultivar (Carisma), were examined for relative crystallinity, granule size distribution, amylopectin chain length, and thermal and pasting properties. Starch from the Carisma cultivar was more thermally stable and more resistant to gelatinization, with significantly higher (p < 0.05) pasting temperature and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) gelatinization onset, peak and conclusion temperatures, compared to the other cultivars. Differences between the potatoes in the other properties measured did not align with the GI ranking. Thermal analysis and starch pasting properties may be useful indicators for preliminary identification of potato cultivars that are digested slowly and have a lower GI.

Managing zebra chip disease in the potato growing regions of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is complicated by confusion about the source of the insect vector (potato psyllid) as it colonizes potato fields in these growing regions. Not knowing where the psyllid is before arriving in Washington potato...

Potatoes are one of the most popular carbohydrate foods in industrialized and some developing countries. However, contradicting arguments and misconceptions on potatoes as a high glycemic index (GI) food is directly affecting potato consumption during the past years. Potato varieties, maturity level...

Certain Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska of the USA have grown potatoes in their gardens for many generations. However, the origin of these potatoes was unclear. In this study, the origin of several potatoes collected from Native gardens, including two potatoes, “Ozette” (fro...

Potato virus Y (PVY) is an important viral pathogen of potato responsible for reducing tuber yield and quality across the globe. The PVYN and PVYNTN strains, the latter of which induces potato tuber necrotic ringspot disease (PTNRD), are regulated for international potato trade, and have been routin...

The potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a serious pest of the potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), in both fields and stores in tropical and subtropical regions. In the present study, the susceptibility of different potato cultivars to P. operculella was evaluated by measuring life table parameters. Tests were undertaken with leaves and tubers of 10 potato cultivars in the laboratory: Agria, Agata, Almera, Arinda, Baneba, Fiana, Marfona, Ramus, Satina, and Volvox. All parameters showed significant differences among tested cultivars. The longest mean generation times were observed on Marfona and Satina cultivars in the experiments on potato leaves and tubers, respectively. The lowest reproductive rate was observed on leaves and tubers of Marfona cultivar. Correspondingly, the lowest values of intrinsic rate of increase and the lowest finite rate of increase were also obtained on Marfona cultivar in tests on potato leaves and tubers. The highest intrinsic rate of incrase values were observed on Arinda and Baneba in the tests on leaves and tubers, respectively. The intrinsic rates of increase were significantly higher on potato leaves than on potato tubers. The lower performance of P. operculella on Marfona cultivar indicated that this cultivar is relatively less susceptible this pest and could be used in integrated pest management programs of P. operculella. This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.

The potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a serious pest of the potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), in both fields and stores in tropical and subtropical regions. In the present study, the susceptibility of different potato cultivars to P. operculella was evaluated by measuring life table parameters. Tests were undertaken with leaves and tubers of 10 potato cultivars in the laboratory: Agria, Agata, Almera, Arinda, Baneba, Fiana, Marfona, Ramus, Satina, and Volvox. All parameters showed significant differences among tested cultivars. The longest mean generation times were observed on Marfona and Satina cultivars in the experiments on potato leaves and tubers, respectively. The lowest reproductive rate was observed on leaves and tubers of Marfona cultivar. Correspondingly, the lowest values of intrinsic rate of increase and the lowest finite rate of increase were also obtained on Marfona cultivar in tests on potato leaves and tubers. The highest intrinsic rate of incrase values were observed on Arinda and Baneba in the tests on leaves and tubers, respectively. The intrinsic rates of increase were significantly higher on potato leaves than on potato tubers. The lower performance of P. operculella on Marfona cultivar indicated that this cultivar is relatively less susceptible this pest and could be used in integrated pest management programs of P. operculella. PMID:25373189

Symptoms of little leaf, leaf chlorosis and leaf malformations with mosaic mottling symptoms were observed in two brinjal varieties (Pusa Shyamla and Pusa Purple Cluster) in fields of IARI, New Delhi, India during 2014-2015. Electron microscopy, PCR and sequence analysis first time provided evidence of association of Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii with potato virus X and potato virus Y in brinjal in India.

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli, is the vector of Ca. Liberibacter psyllaurous/solanacearum, a bacterium associated with a lethal potato disease with tuber-striping symptoms, termed Zebra Chip (ZC). Presently, there are no effective management tactics for ZC, although research to aid de...

The tomato genome has a higher repeat content than the potato genome, which is primarily the result of a higher amount of retrotransposons in the tomato genome. Potato has a higher abundance of simple sequence repeats than tomato, and the distribution of motifs also differs between these species. Fu...

Zebra Chip (ZC), a new and economically important disease of potato in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and New Zealand has caused losses of millions of dollars to the potato industry. The disease is associated with the bacterium “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum” (Lso) transmitted to...

The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), is a major pest of potatoes that can cause yield loss by direct feeding on crop plants and by vectoring a bacterial pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous (a.k.a. Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum). In recent years, ...

The Tri-State Potato Variety Development Program released two potato cultivars in 2011: Palisade Russet and Teton Russet. Palisade Russet (PR) is notable for having resistance to foliar and tuber late blight. PR is also resistant to Verticillium wilt, black dot, and pink rot, and has a moderate re...

Monitoring of 10 and 12 commercial potato, Solanum tuberosum L., fields in 2004 and 2005, respectively, confirmed for a low-density population of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), that potato fields nearest to the previous year's potato fields are significantly more colonized by this beetle than more distant fields. This pattern is partially explained by the presence of a reservoir of colonizers estimated at 35% of the season-long colonizing population in 2004 and 2005. These beetles, which emerged before potato plants broke the ground, were ready to establish themselves on nearby potato plants. The colonizing Colorado potato beetles dispersed within the maximum range of 1.5 km over a season, and the colonization risk for the new crop decreased with distance from the previous year's crop. There was no evidence that rotation distance delayed colonization. In terms of pest management, although the findings confirm that only long 1.5-km rotations can prevent Colorado potato beetle colonization, they also demonstrate that short rotations of 100 m or more can make substantial contributions to pest management programs for low-density beetle populations.

Five potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) leaf cuttings were flown on STS-73 in late October, 1995 as part of the 16-day USML-2 mission. Preflight studies were conducted to study tuber growth, determine carbohydrate concentrations, and examine the developing starch grains within the tuber. In these tests, tubers attained a fresh weight of 1.4 g tuber-1 after 13 days. Tuber fresh mass was significantly correlated to tuber diameter. Greater than 60% of the tuber dry mass was starch and the starch grains varied in size from 2 to 40 micrometers in the long axis. For the flight experiment, cuttings were obtained from 7-week-old Norland potato plants, kept at 5 degrees C for 12 h then planted into arcillite in the ASTROCULTURE(TM) flight hardware. The flight package was loaded on-board the orbiter 22 h prior to launch. During the mission, the flight hardware maintained an environment around the cuttings of 22 +/- 2 degrees C, 81 +/- 7% RH, and a 12-h photoperiod using red and blue light-emitting diodes at a photosynthetic photon flux of 150 micromol m-2 s-1. CO2 concentration exceeded 4000 ppm during the dark period and was controlled during the light period to approximately 400 ppm. Video downlinking of images of the plants and CO2 exchange data during the flight demonstrated plant vitality for the first 12 days of the mission followed by senescence of the leaves. The flight package was received 4 h after landing at the Kennedy Space Center and postflight processing of the samples was completed within 3 h. Four out of the five space-grown cuttings produced tubers that were similar in appearance and dimension to the ground control tubers. This is an important finding if potatoes are to be used as part of a bioregenerative life support system for long-term space exploration.

It is shown that potato orbits in the near-axis region of a high beta tokamak are squeezed in a magnetic well. The squeezing factor is the same as that for the banana orbits derived in an earlier work [Phys. Plasmas 3, 2843 (1996)]. It depends on the energy of the particle. For high-energy particles, the size of the squeezed orbits is independent of their energy. This implies improved confinement for high-energy particles and for high beta tokamaks with advanced fuels.

Seven ferulic acid esters of 1-alkanols ranging in carbon length from C16 to C28 were synthesized and an HPLC protocol for their separation developed. Extracts prepared from wound healing potato (Solanum tuberosum) tubers and analysed by HPLC indicated that alkyl ferulate esters begin to accumulate 3-7 days after wound treatment. Of the nine esters identified by EIMS, (including two esters of odd chain length alkanols) hexadecyl and octadecyl ferulates were predominant. Alkyl ferulate esters were restricted to the wound periderm.

Higher plants are being evaluated for life support to provide needed food, oxygen and water as well as removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The successful utilization of plants in space will require the development of not only highly productive growing systems but also highly efficient bioregenerative systems. It will be necessary to recycle all inedible plant parts and all human wastes so that the entire complement of elemental compounds can be reused. Potatoes have been proposed as one of the desirable crops because they are 1) extremely productive, yielding more than 100 metric tons per hectare from field plantings, 2) the edible tubers are high in digestible starch (70%) and protein (10%) on a dry weight basis, 3) up to 80% of the total plant production is in tubers and thus edible, 4) the plants are easily propagated either from tubers or from tissue culture plantlets, 5) the tubers can be utilized with a minimum of processing, and 6) potatoes can be prepared in a variety of different forms for the human diet (Tibbitts et al., 1982). However potatoes have a growth pattern that complicates the development of growing the plants in controlled systems. Tubers are borne on underground stems that are botanically termed 'rhizomes', but in common usage termed 'stolons'. The stolons must be maintained in a dark, moist area with sufficient provision for enlargement of tubers. Stems rapidly terminate in flowers forcing extensive branching and spreading of plants so that individual plants will cover 0.2 m2 or more area. Thus the growing system must be developed to provide an area that is darkened for tuber and root growth and of sufficient size for plant spread. A system developed for growing potatoes, or any plants, in space will have certain requirements that must be met to make them a useful part of a life support system. The system must 1) be constructed of materials, and involve media, that can be reused for many successive cycles of plant growth, 2

Higher plants are being evaluated for life support to provide needed food, oxygen and water as well as removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The successful utilization of plants in space will require the development of not only highly productive growing systems but also highly efficient bioregenerative systems. It will be necessary to recycle all inedible plant parts and all human wastes so that the entire complement of elemental compounds can be reused. Potatoes have been proposed as one of the desirable crops because they are 1) extremely productive, yielding more than 100 metric tons per hectare from field plantings, 2) the edible tubers are high in digestible starch (70%) and protein (10%) on a dry weight basis, 3) up to 80% of the total plant production is in tubers and thus edible, 4) the plants are easily propagated either from tubers or from tissue culture plantlets, 5) the tubers can be utilized with a minimum of processing, and 6) potatoes can be prepared in a variety of different forms for the human diet (Tibbitts et al., 1982). However potatoes have a growth pattern that complicates the development of growing the plants in controlled systems. Tubers are borne on underground stems that are botanically termed 'rhizomes', but in common usage termed 'stolons'. The stolons must be maintained in a dark, moist area with sufficient provision for enlargement of tubers. Stems rapidly terminate in flowers forcing extensive branching and spreading of plants so that individual plants will cover 0.2 m2 or more area. Thus the growing system must be developed to provide an area that is darkened for tuber and root growth and of sufficient size for plant spread. A system developed for growing potatoes, or any plants, in space will have certain requirements that must be met to make them a useful part of a life support system. The system must 1) be constructed of materials, and involve media, that can be reused for many successive cycles of plant growth, 2

Higher plants are being evaluated for life support to provide needed food, oxygen and water as well as removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The successful utilization of plants in space will require the development of not only highly productive growing systems but also highly efficient bioregenerative systems. It will be necessary to recycle all inedible plant parts and all human wastes so that the entire complement of elemental compounds can be reused. Potatoes have been proposed as one of the desirable crops because they are 1) extremely productive, yielding more than 100 metric tons per hectare from field plantings, 2) the edible tubers are high in digestible starch (70%) and protein (10%) on a dry weight basis, 3) up to 80% of the total plant production is in tubers and thus edible, 4) the plants are easily propagated either from tubers or from tissue culture plantlets, 5) the tubers can be utilized with a minimum of processing, and 6) potatoes can be prepared in a variety of different forms for the human diet (Tibbitts et al., 1982). However potatoes have a growth pattern that complicates the development of growing the plants in controlled systems. Tubers are borne on underground stems that are botanically termed 'rhizomes', but in common usage termed 'stolons'. The stolons must be maintained in a dark, moist area with sufficient provision for enlargement of tubers. Stems rapidly terminate in flowers forcing extensive branching and spreading of plants so that individual plants will cover 0.2 m2 or more area. Thus the growing system must be developed to provide an area that is darkened for tuber and root growth and of sufficient size for plant spread. A system developed for growing potatoes, or any plants, in space will have certain requirements that must be met to make them a useful part of a life support system. The system must 1) be constructed of materials, and involve media, that can be reused for many successive cycles of plant growth, 2

The effect of heat treatment at 90, 100, 110 and 120 ℃ for 20 min to sweet potato flour on dough properties and characteristics of sweet potato-wheat bread was investigated. The lightness (L*) and a* of sweet potato flour samples after heat treatment were increased, while the b* were decreased significantly, as well as the particle size, volume and area mean diameter ( p potato flour was observed, where the number of irregular granules increased as the temperature increased from 90 to 120 ℃. Compared with sweet potato flour samples without heat treatment and with heat treatment at 90, 100 and 120 ℃, the gelatinization temperature and enthalpy change of sweet potato flour at 110 ℃ were the lowest, which were 77.94 ℃ and 3.67 J/g, respectively ( p potato flour increased significantly from 1199 ml without heat treatment to 1214 ml at 90 ℃ ( p potato-wheat bread with sweet potato flour after heat treatment increased significantly, which was the largest at 90 ℃ (2.53 cm(3)/g) ( p potato flour could be potentially used in wheat bread production.

The potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a tuber that is largely used for food and is a source of different bioactive compounds such as starch, dietary fiber, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds are synthetized by the potato plant as a protection response from bacteria, fungi, viruses, and insects. Several works showed that these potato compounds exhibited health-promoting effects in humans. However, the use of the potato in the food industry submits this vegetable to different processes that can alter the phenolic content. Moreover, many of these compounds with high bioactivity are located in the potato’s skin, and so are eliminated as waste. In this review the most recent articles dealing with phenolic compounds in the potato and potato byproducts, along with the effects of harvesting, post-harvest, and technological processes, have been reviewed. Briefly, the phenolic composition, main extraction, and determination methods have been described. In addition, the “alternative” food uses and healthy properties of potato phenolic compounds have been addressed. PMID:27240356

Research objectives were to study the effect of food source, preparation method and chemical form on bioavailability of chromium. Chromium concentration in potatoes was determined and tubers labeled either intrinsically or extrinsically with radioactive chromate. A labeled chromium complexes was isolated from preparations of raw, baked or fried potatoes and chromatographed on gel permeation media. Availability of the potato chromium complex to the rat was examined in three feeding studies. Animals were dosed with radioactive extrinsically or intrinsically labeled potato extract or with chromate. A labeled chromium complex was isolated from gastrointestinal contents of rats and chromatographed. Potato pulp and peel contained 1.63 and 2.70 ..mu..g Cr/g tissue respectively. True and apparent absorption from extrinsically labeled feedings were 33.4 +/- 4.7 and 29.8 +/- 11.2% respectively, and no differences existed between absorption from raw and cooked potatoes. Absorption from the extrinsic labeled potatoes differed significantly from absorption of inorganic chromatium. Apparent absorption of raw (11.1 +/- 7.9%) and cooked (-0.7 +/- 2.8%) intrinsically labeled feedings differed significantly. Absorption of inorganic chromium was 17.8% (true) and 11.5% (apparent). Examination of the chromium complex isolated from gastrointestinal tract contents showed enlargement of the complex in the stomach after consumption.

Preheating potatoes at 50 to 80 degrees C has a firming effect on the cooked potato tissue. This effect is particularly pronounced at a preheating temperature of 60 to 70 degrees C followed by cooling. Several theories have been presented in the literature to explain this firming effect: retrogradation of starch, leaching of amylose, stabilization of the middle lamellae and cell walls by the activation of the pectin methylesterase (PME) enzyme, and by the release of calcium from gelatinized starch and the formation of calcium bridges between pectin molecules. Most probably, none of these theories alone can explain the phenomenon and more than one mechanism seems to be involved. Some of these mechanisms seem to be interdependent. As an example, calcium could be considered as a link all the way through release after starch gelatinization to cross-linking pectin substances in the cell wall and the middle lamellae, which has been demethylated by the PME enzyme. More research and "clear cut" experiments are needed in order to elucidate the role of each mechanism, especially which of them is the main contributor to the process of firming. Most probably, the calcium-pectin-PME mechanism plays a secondary role, that is, it only retards the collapse of the tissue structure that would otherwise occur during the final heating without preheating, and it is not the main factor of firmness.

Two hundred forty potato samples with one or more symptoms of leaf mosaic, distortion, mottling and yellowing were collected between 2005 and 2008 from seven Iranian provinces. Forty-four of these samples tested positive with double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (DAS-ELISA) using a Potato virus S (PVS) polyclonal antibody. Of these 12 isolates of PVS were selected based on the geographical location for biological and molecular characterization. The full coat protein (CP) and 11K genes from 12 PVS isolates were PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. All 12 PVS isolates showed mosaic symptoms on Nicotiana debneyii and N. tabacum cv. Whiteburly and local lesion on Chenopodium amaranticolor, C. quinoa and C. album. The Iranian isolates share between 93 and 100% pairwise nucleotide identity with other PVS(O) isolates. Based on maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis coupled with pairwise identity analysis, we propose 15 genotypes for the PVS(O) strain and 3 genotypes for the PVS(A) strain.

Palatinose (isomaltulose, 6-O-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-D-fructose) is a structural isomer of sucrose with very similar physico-chemical properties. Due to its non-cariogenicity and low calorific value it is an ideal sugar substitute for use in food production. Palatinose is produced on an industrial scale from sucrose by an enzymatic rearrangement using immobilized bacterial cells. To explore the potential of transgenic plants as alternative production facilities for palatinose, a chimeric sucrose isomerase gene from Erwinia rhapontici under control of a tuber-specific promoter was introduced into potato plants. The enzyme catalyses the conversion of sucrose into palatinose. Expression of the palI gene within the apoplast of transgenic tubers led to a nearly quantitative conversion of sucrose into palatinose. Despite the soluble carbohydrates having been altered within the tubers, growth of palI expressing transgenic potato plants was indistinguishable from wild type plants. Therefore, expression of a bacterial sucrose isomerase provides a valid tool for high level palatinose production in storage tissues of transgenic crop plants.

The composition of potatoes as determined by chemical extraction has been described extensively. It is thus quite well known that, among other compounds, potato is rich in polyphenols, vitamins and in some minerals. This paper underlines the important role of simulated gastro-intestinal in vitro digestion in the bioaccessibility of polyphenols (chlorogenic acid and derivatives, and rutin) from potatoes and sweet potatoes and their impact on iron uptake. Concentrations of polyphenols in the flesh of two potato cultivars (Nicola, white potato, and Vitelotte, purple potato) and sweet potato were measured by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography after boiling and after in vitro digestion. Chemical extraction underestimates polyphenol amounts that can be released during digestion and that are actually bioaccessible. Iron uptake, as evaluated by a ferritin assay, by intestinal human cells was decreased after incubation with the intestinal phase of in vitro digestion, presumably due to the presence of polyphenols.

Several natural enemies are reported from potato tuberworm (PTW) including insects (parasitoids and predators) and pathogens. Naturally occurring insect specific pathogens and inundatively applied biopesticides can significantly contribute to control of the potato tuberworm (PTW). The most researche...

The potato plant (solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the basic food crops that should be studied for use in NASA's closed Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). It offers high yields per unit area and time, with most of this production in the form of highly digestible carbohydrate. Potatoes, like wheat and rice, are particularly useful in human diets because of their nutritional versatility and ease of processing and preparation. The growth of the potato was studied and it was found to be a useful species for life support systems.

The feasibility of a two-stage bioconversion of inedible potato biomass into biohumus by oyster mushroom followed by worms was tested. As a raw material for biohumus production the inedible potato biomass in certain properties ranked below wheat straw. The most feasible method to convert the potato wastes into biohumus was to mix them with wheat straw at the mass ratio of 1:3 and then treat with mushrooms followed by worms. This gave a good yield of mushrooms. The biohumus produced from the mixture was suitable for use as a plant growth medium.

In this paper selected mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) modified with potato starch have been presented. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) used as a modifier in the study was produced from potato starch modified with glycerol. Isotactic polypropylene/thermoplastic potato starch composites (iPP/TPS) that contained 10, 30, 50 wt.% of modified starch were examined using dynamic mechanical-thermal analysis, static tensile, Brinell hardness, and Charpy impact test. The studies indicated a distinct influence of a filler content on the mechanical properties of composites in comparison with non-modified polypropylene.

The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of fenamiphos 15G and short-cycle potato (PO)-sweet potato (SP) grown continuously and in rotation with peanut (PE)-grain sorghum (GS) on yield, crop quality, and mixed nematode population densities of Meloidogyne arenaria, M. hapla, M. incognita, and Mesocriconema ornatum. Greater root-gall indices and damage by M. hapla and M. incognita occurred on potato than other crops. Most crop yields were higher and root-gall indices lower from fenamiphos-treated plots than untreated plots. The total yield of potato in the PO-SP and PO-SP-PE-GS sequences increased from 1983 to 1985 in plots infested with M. hapla or M. arenaria and M. incognita in combination and decreased in 1986 to 1987 when root-knot nematode populations shifted to M. incognita. The total yields of sweet potato in the PO-SP-PE-GS sequence were similar in 1983 and 1985, and declined each year in the PO-SP sequence as a consequence of M. incognita population density increase in the soil. Yield of peanut from soil infested with M. hapla increased 82% in fenamiphos-treated plots compared to untreated plots. Fenamiphos treatment increased yield of grain sorghum from 5% to 45% over untreated controls. The declining yields of potato and sweet potato observed with both the PO-SP and PO-SP-PE-GS sequences indicate that these crop systems should not be used longer than 3 years in soil infested with M. incognita, M. arenaria, or M. hapla. Under these conditions, these two cropping systems promote a population shift in favor of M. incognita, which is more damaging to potato and sweet potato than M. arenaria and M. hapla.

In response to insect attack, high levels of proteinase inhibitors are synthesised in potato leaves. This can cause inefficient protein digestion in insects, leading to reduced growth, delayed development and lower fecundity. It has been suggested that Colorado potato beetle overcomes this defence mechanism by inducing the production of a set of cysteine proteases that are resistant to potato proteinase inhibitors. Experiments with gut extracts showed that these proteases have unusual inhibition profiles as they are not inhibited by most of the cystatins but are strongly inhibited by thyropins. In this study we have isolated three cysteine proteases from adapted guts of Colorado potato beetle larvae, named intestains 1, 2 and 3, the first cysteine proteases known to be involved in extracellular protein digestion. The N-terminal sequences suggest their classification into the papain family. Intestains differ in substrate specificities and inhibitory profiles. Their substrate specificities suggest that intestains 1 and 2 are general digestive enzymes, while intestain 3 has a more specific function. The inhibitory profile of intestain 1 is similar to that of proteases of the papain family. However, the Ki values for the interaction of intestain 2 with the same set of inhibitors are several hundred fold higher, which would enable the enzyme to circumvent the potato defence mechanism characterised by high concentrations of protease inhibitors in attacked potato leaves. A further, different strategy of the Colorado potato beetle to avoid potato defence is exhibited by intestain 3, which is able to cleave off the N-terminus of model cystatin and thus inactivate the inhibitor. These results suggest that the Colorado potato beetle combines different strategies to counteract plant defence mechanisms.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) is a natural host of Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) which can cause characteristic symptoms on developing plants including stunting phenotype and distortion of leaves and tubers. PSTVd is the type species of the family Pospiviroidae, and can replicate in the nucleus and move systemically throughout the plant. It is not well understood how the viroid can affect host genes for successful invasion and which genes show altered expression levels upon infection. Our primary focus in this study is the identification of genes which can affect tuber formation since viroid infection can strongly influence tuber development and especially tuber shape. In this study, we used a large-scale method to identify differentially expressed genes in potato. We have identified defence, stress and sugar metabolism related genes having altered expression levels upon infection. Additionally, hormone pathway related genes showed significant up- or down-regulation. DWARF1/DIMINUTO, Gibberellin 7-oxidase and BEL5 transcripts were identified and validated showing differential expression in viroid infected tissues. Our study suggests that gibberellin and brassinosteroid pathways have a possible role in tuber development upon PSTVd infection. PMID:26937634

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) is a natural host of Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) which can cause characteristic symptoms on developing plants including stunting phenotype and distortion of leaves and tubers. PSTVd is the type species of the family Pospiviroidae, and can replicate in the nucleus and move systemically throughout the plant. It is not well understood how the viroid can affect host genes for successful invasion and which genes show altered expression levels upon infection. Our primary focus in this study is the identification of genes which can affect tuber formation since viroid infection can strongly influence tuber development and especially tuber shape. In this study, we used a large-scale method to identify differentially expressed genes in potato. We have identified defence, stress and sugar metabolism related genes having altered expression levels upon infection. Additionally, hormone pathway related genes showed significant up- or down-regulation. DWARF1/DIMINUTO, Gibberellin 7-oxidase and BEL5 transcripts were identified and validated showing differential expression in viroid infected tissues. Our study suggests that gibberellin and brassinosteroid pathways have a possible role in tuber development upon PSTVd infection.

A method for quantifying the effect of medium composition on the diffusive mass transfer of hydrophobic organic chemicals through thin layers was applied to plant tissue. The method employs two silicone disks, one serving as source and one as sink for a series of PAHs diffusing through thin layers of water, potato tissue, and carrot tissue. Naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, and fluoranthene served as model substances. Their transfer from source to sink disk was measured by HPLC to determine a velocity rate constant proportional to the diffusive conductivity. The diffusive flux through the plant tissue was modeled using Fick's first law of diffusion. Both the experimental results and the model suggest that mass transfer through plant tissue occurs predominantly through pore water and that, therefore, the mass transfer ratio between plant tissue and water is independent of the hydrophobicity of the chemical. The findings of this study provide a convenient method to estimate the diffusion of nonvolatile organic chemicals through various plant materials. The application to a radial diffusion model suggests that "growth dilution" rendersthe concentration of highly hydrophobic chemicals in potatoes below their equilibrium partitioning level. This is in agreement with field results for the bioconcentration of PAHs in potatoes.

Potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc), is a vector of the bacterium that causes zebra chip disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). When cultivated crops are not available, potato psyllid may often be found on non-crop hosts within the Solanaceae. This study determined that species of Lyci...

In the last 15 years, Potato virus Y (PVY) has been the main pathogen causing seed potato lot rejections in North America. The most efficient and environmentally sound method of limiting incidence and spread of PVY is the use virus resistant potato cultivars. Several genes for extreme resistance to ...

Sweet potato is grown extensively from tropical to temperate regions and is an important food crop worldwide. In this study, we established detection methods for 17 major sweet potato viruses using single and multiplex RT-PCR assays. To investigate the current incidence of viral diseases, we collected 154 samples of various sweet potato cultivars showing virus-like symptoms from 40 fields in 10 Korean regions, and analyzed them by RT-PCR using specific primers for each of the 17 viruses. Of the 17 possible viruses, we detected eight in our samples. Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV) and sweet potato virus C (SPVC) were most commonly detected, infecting approximately 87% and 85% of samples, respectively. Furthermore, Sweet potato symptomless virus 1 (SPSMV-1), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG), Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV), Sweet potato virus 2 ( SPV2), Sweet potato chlorotic fleck virus (SPCFV), and Sweet potato latent virus (SPLV) were detected in 67%, 58%, 47%, 41%, 31%, and 20% of samples, respectively. This study presents the first documented occurrence of four viruses (SPVC, SPV2, SPCFV, and SPSMV-1) in Korea. Based on the results of our survey, we developed multiplex RT-PCR assays for simple and simultaneous detection of the eight sweet potato viruses we recorded.

We examined the effects of photoperiod on reproductive diapause of three haplotypes of potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae), collected from three geographic locations: south Texas (Central haplotype), California (Western haplotype), and Washington State (Northwestern haploty...

A series of field trials were carried out from 2000 to 2003. Neonicotinoid insecticides applied as seed potato treatments at planting were tested to control wireworms in potato crops. Compounds were applied as drench or spray. Neonicotinoids tested were imidacloprid at rates of 35, 70, 88, and 175 g a.i.; thiamethoxam at 17.5, 35, 50, 70, and 140 g a.i.; and thiacloprid at 72 and 144 g a.i. per metric ton seed potatoes. Treatment with imidacloprid at 70 g/ton seed and thiamethoxam at 50 g/ton seed showed significant control of wireworms at harvest but thiacloprid showed insufficient protection. No phytotoxicity was recorded at harvest. Prospects and benefits of seed potato treatments with neonicotinoids are discussed, including lowering of the amount of insecticide needed for adequate protection.

The comparative investigation of the morphological basis for olfactory reception in the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri) and the potato/tomato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) was performed using scanning electron microscopy to elucidate the antennal sensory arrays being...

This report presents the findings of an energy study done at the Simplot potato processing plant in Heyburn, Idaho. The study includes all electrical energy using systems at the plant but does not address specific modifications to process equipment. The plant receives raw potatoes and produces a mixture of pre-fried and frozen potato products including french fries and pre-formed patties, a dehydrated frozen product, starch, and processes and ships raw potatoes. The plant also contains a box line that makes cardboard cartons for all Simplot plants. The plant contains all necessary equipment and processes to produce a finished product and has long-term cold storage. 13 figs., 16 tabs.

In the present study, two potato experiments involving different N rates in 2011 were conducted in Wuchuan County and Linxi County, Inner Mongolia. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was collected by an active GreenSeeker crop canopy sensor to estimate N status of potato. The results show that the NDVI readings were poorly correlated with N nutrient indicators of potato at vegetative Growth stage due to the influence of soil background. With the advance of growth stages, NDVI values were exponentially related to plant N uptake (R2 = 0.665) before tuber bulking stage and were linearly related to plant N concentration (R2 = 0.699) when plant fully covered soil. In conclusion, GreenSeeker active crop sensor is a promising tool to estimate N status for potato plants. The findings from this study may be useful for developing N recommendation method based on active crop canopy sensor.

Coloured-fleshed potatoes of four varieties were used as raw material for coloured flour and fried snack production. The effects of thermal processes traditionally used in dried potato processing and in snack pellet manufacturing on anthocyanin profiles, total polyphenols and antioxidant properties of obtained half- and ready products were studied. There was a significant influence of potato variety on the experimental flour and snack properties. Flours with the highest antioxidant activities were obtained from Salad Blue and Herbie 26 potatoes; however, the flour prepared from the Blue Congo exhibited a much higher total polyphenol and anthocyanin content. Snacks produced with coloured flour had 2-3 times higher antioxidant activities, 40% higher contents of polyphenols, attractive colour and better expansion compared to control samples. The lowest losses of anthocyanins during snack processing were in snacks with flour from the purple-fleshed Blue Congo and red-fleshed Herbie 26.

Use of ultrafiltration membrane systems in stirred cell and in thin-channel systems for immobilizing enzyme (sweet potato intrinsic and crystalline /beta/-amylase) in hydrolysis of sweet potato through a continuous operation mode were studied. Both the filtration rate and reducing sugars, produced as the result of enzymatic hydrolysis, decreased with the filtration time. THe immobilized enzymes in the thin-channel system showed a much better performance compared to that in the stirred cell system. Addition of crystalline sweet potato /beta/-amylase to the sweet potato increased both the filtration rate and reducing-sugars content. Alcoholic fermentation of the filtrate resulted in an alcohol content of 4.2%. This represented fermentation of 95% of the sugars with an efficiency of 88%. 17 refs.

Use of ultrafiltration membrane systems in stirred cell and in thin-channel systems for immobilizing enzyme (sweet potato intrinsic and crystalline beta-amylase) in hydrolysis of sweet potato through a continuous operation mode were studied. Both the filtration rate and reducing sugars, produced as the result of enzymic hydrolysis, decreased with the filtration time. The immobilized enzymes in the thin-channel system showed a much better performance compared to that in the stirred cell system. Addition of crystalline sweet potato beta-amylase to the sweet potato increased both the filtration rate and reducing-sugars content. Alcohol fermentation of the filtrate resulted in an alcohol content of 4.2%. This represented fermentation of 95% of the sugars with an efficiency of 88%.

The following tests are reported: with eggs, with larvae in sweet potato roots, with larvae in sweet potato slices, with pupae in sweet potato roots, with adults, and sterility studies. Data are presented. (MHR)

Potato virus Y (PVY) is a major pathogen that causes substantial economic losses in worldwide potato production. Different potato cultivars differ in resistance to PVY, from severe susceptibility, through tolerance, to complete resistance. The aim of this study was to better define the mechanisms underlying tolerant responses of potato to infection by the particularly aggressive PVY(NTN) strain. We focused on the dynamics of the primary metabolism-related processes during PVY(NTN) infection. A comprehensive analysis of the dynamic changes in primary metabolism was performed, which included whole transcriptome analysis, nontargeted proteomics, and photosynthetic activity measurements in potato cv. Désirée and its transgenic counterpart depleted for accumulation of salicylic acid (NahG-Désirée). Faster multiplication of virus occurred in the NahG-Désirée, with these plants developing strong disease symptoms. We show that while the dynamics of responses at the transcriptional level are extensive and bimodal, this is only partially translated to the protein level, and to the final functional outcome. Photosynthesis-related genes are transiently induced before viral multiplication is detected and it is down-regulated later on. This is reflected as a deficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus at the onset of viral multiplication only. Interestingly, specific and constant up-regulation of some RuBisCO transcripts was detected in Désirée plants, which might be important, as these proteins have been shown to interact with viral proteins. In SA-deficient and more sensitive NahG-Désirée plants, consistent down-regulation of photosynthesis-related genes was detected. A constant reduction in the photochemical efficiency from the onset of viral multiplication was identified; in nontransgenic plants this decrease was only transient. The transient reduction in net photosynthetic rate occurred in both genotypes with the same timing, and coincided with changes in stomatal

The objective of the present study was to compare the prebiotic properties of starch dextrins, that is, resistant dextrins obtained from potato starch in the process of simultaneous thermolysis and chemical modification, which were selected based on previous research. Both prepared dextrins met the definition criterion of dietary fiber and also the basic prebiotic criterion - they were not degraded by the digestive enzymes of the initial sections of the gastrointestinal tract. The growth of probiotic lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, as well as Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, Bacteroides, and Clostridium strains isolated from feces of healthy people, showed that both studied dextrins were utilized as a source of assimilable carbon and energy by the strains. Furthermore, better growth (higher numbers of cells) counts of probiotic bacteria than those of fecal isolates indicated that the studied resistant dextrins showed a selective effect. Both dextrins might be considered as substances with prebiotic properties due to their chemical and physical properties and selectivity towards the studied probiotic bacterial strains.

Stem segments of aseptically grown potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Zarevo) were cultivated for 4 weeks under laboratory conditions and were then grown for 8 d on board the "Mir" orbital space station. Timing was such that minitubers initiated and developed during the 8 d on the "Mir". Under space flight and stationary conditions, spherical minitubers were formed with no statistically significant differences in either the frequency of tuber formation or tuber size. These observations are the first to document the formation of vegetative reproductive organs and of well developed amylogenic storage tissue during the microgravity conditions of orbital space flight. In these minitubers, a majority of the starch was stored in parenchyma, with numerous amyloplasts per cell. In space flight tissue, however, grain size of starch was decreased and lamellae within the amyloplasts was locally enlarged. Furthermore, mitochondria of these tissues were characterized by increased matrix density and well developed cristae.

Deproteinized and protein-containing wastewater from the potato starch industry was purified by anaerobic digestion followed by aerobic treatment. Inhibition of methanation by NH3 in concentrated deproteinized wastewater can be prevented by lowering the pH. SO32- was removed by reduction in an acidification-reactor. SO42- reduction was hydraulic retention time-dependent during acidification. Further elimination of SO42- can take place in the CH4 reactor. With both deproteinized and protein-containing wastewater, high CH4 production rates were obtained (more than or equal to 26 kg COD/cubic m-day). Aerobic treatment of the anaerobic effluent resulted in extensive deodorization and concomitant elimination of BOD and PO4(-3).

The study was designed to investigate the rheological properties of heated potato starch dispersions. Water suspensions of starch were heated at 65, 80 or 95°C for 5, 15, 30 or 60 min. The dispersions obtained were examined for granule size distribution and rheology. It was found that the starch dispersions significantly differed in both respects. The mean diameters of starch granules were largest for the dispersion heated at 65°C and smallest for that heated at 95°C. As the heating temperature was raised, the yield stresses and consistency coefficients decreased, while the flow behaviour indexes and Casson plastic viscosities increased. There were also differences in the viscoelastic properties of the dispersions: for those heated at 65°C the storage and loss moduli increased with heating time whereas for those heated at 80°C both moduli decreased.

Potatoes generally have one of the highest glycemic index values of any food. Relatively small differences in the glycemic response (GR) of regularly consumed starch foods have shown beneficial effects on health. Lowering the GR of a potato-based meal has potentially wide-reaching health benefits. High-viscosity hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HV-HPMC) is a modified cellulose dietary fiber extensively used in the food industry. We hypothesized that the GR of a high-glycemic index product such as mashed potato would be lower with the addition of HV-HPMC. In a nonblind, randomized, repeat-measure, crossover controlled trial, 15 healthy adults consumed portions of mashed potato with different doses (0%, 1%, 2%, and 4%) of a specially selected and optimized HV-HPMC and a reference food (glucose) on separate occasions. Five subjects were excluded from the final analysis due to noncompliance with study procedures. Capillary blood glucose was measured in fasted subjects and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after starting to eat. For each sample, the incremental area under the blood glucose response curve was calculated and the GR determined. There was a significant lowering effect of HV-HPMC on GR (P < .001) of mashed potato. Glycemic responses for all mashed potato samples with the HV-HPMC were significantly lower than the standard mashed potato: 1% level (P < .05), 2% level (P < .05), and 4% level (P < .05). However, there was no significant effect of the HV-HPMC dose on GR. We conclude that addition of select HV-HPMC to mashed potato blunts GR.

The aim of this study was to develop a protocol for the in vitro conservation of sweet potato genotypes using the slow growth technique. The first experiment was conducted in a 4 × 5 × 2 factorial scheme, testing four genotypes (IPB-007, IPB-052, IPB-072, and IPB-137), five concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA) (0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 mg·L−1), and two temperatures (18 and 25°C). The second experiment was conducted in a 4 × 3 × 3 factorial scheme at 18°C, testing four genotypes (IPB-007, IPB-052, IPB-072, and IPB-137), three variations of MS salts (50, 75, and 100%), and three concentrations of sucrose (10, 20, and 30 g·L−1). Every three months, we evaluated the survival (%), shoot height, and shoot viability. In vitro conservation of the sweet potato genotypes IPB-052 and IPB-007 was obtained over three and six months, respectively, using MS medium plus 2.0 mg·L−1 of ABA at either 18 or 25°C. Genotypes IPB-072 and IPB-137 can be kept for three and six months, respectively, in MS medium without ABA at 18°C. It is possible to store IPB-052 and IPB-072 for six months and IPB-007 and IPB-137 for nine months using 30 g·L−1 of sucrose and 50% MS salts. PMID:24563627

A mathematical model is developed and validated to predict the depth of cut in potato tuber slabs as a function of laser power and travel speed. The model considers laser processing parameters such as input power, spot size and exposure time as well as the properties of the material being cut such as specific heat, thermal conductivity, surface reflectance, etc. The model also considers the phase change of water in potato and the ignition temperature of the solid portion. The composition of the potato tuber is assumed to be of water and solid. The model also assumes that the ablation process is accomplished through ejection of liquid water, debris and water vapour, and combustion of solid. A CO(2) laser operating in c.w. mode was chosen for the experimental work because water absorbs laser energy highly at 10.6 microm, and CO(2) laser units with relatively high output power are available. Slabs of potato tuber were chosen to be laser processed since potato contains high moisture and large amounts of relatively homogeneous tissue. The results of the preliminary calculations and experiments concluded that the model is able to predict the depth of cut in potato tuber parenchyma when subjected to a CO(2) laser beam.

White potatoes are a forgotten source of nutrients. The goal of this study was to identify the nutritional implications of replacing a composite of white potatoes with a composite of vegetables commonly consumed by children aged 2-18 y (n = 3460) in a nationally representative sample. The NHANES 2005-2012 24-h dietary recall data were used to determine nutrient intake. Two replacement models were developed: one for potato consumers and another for those consuming vegetables other than potatoes. Analyses focused on 1) mean nutrient contributions per 1 cup equivalent vegetable composite (VC)/potato composite (PC) consumed by participants, and 2) mean daily nutrient intake when the nutrients per 1 cup equivalent PC replaced the nutrients per 1 cup equivalent VC. Covariate adjusted analysis was tested for statistical significance (P < 0.002). When 1 cup equivalent VC replaced 1 cup equivalent PC, significantly lower mean intakes were found for 20 of the 23 nutrients studied and higher mean intakes of total sugars, folate, and calcium. Differences were found including higher total intakes of monounsaturated fatty acids and potassium and lower total intakes of vitamins A and K. The percentage contribution of the PC to total daily nutrient intake was 6% for total energy, 8% for total fat, 5% for saturated fatty acids, 13% for dietary fiber, 4% for sodium, and 11% for potassium. Both composites contributed a variety of nutrients to the total diet; the consumption of white potatoes may be an important strategy to help meet the potassium recommendation.

White potatoes are a forgotten source of nutrients. The goal of this study was to identify the nutritional implications of replacing a composite of white potatoes with a composite of vegetables commonly consumed by children aged 2–18 y (n = 3460) in a nationally representative sample. The NHANES 2005–2012 24-h dietary recall data were used to determine nutrient intake. Two replacement models were developed: one for potato consumers and another for those consuming vegetables other than potatoes. Analyses focused on 1) mean nutrient contributions per 1 cup equivalent vegetable composite (VC)/potato composite (PC) consumed by participants, and 2) mean daily nutrient intake when the nutrients per 1 cup equivalent PC replaced the nutrients per 1 cup equivalent VC. Covariate adjusted analysis was tested for statistical significance (P < 0.002). When 1 cup equivalent VC replaced 1 cup equivalent PC, significantly lower mean intakes were found for 20 of the 23 nutrients studied and higher mean intakes of total sugars, folate, and calcium. Differences were found including higher total intakes of monounsaturated fatty acids and potassium and lower total intakes of vitamins A and K. The percentage contribution of the PC to total daily nutrient intake was 6% for total energy, 8% for total fat, 5% for saturated fatty acids, 13% for dietary fiber, 4% for sodium, and 11% for potassium. Both composites contributed a variety of nutrients to the total diet; the consumption of white potatoes may be an important strategy to help meet the potassium recommendation. PMID:26773033

Potatoes of purple varieties and red flesh colour were estimated as the important food product containing valuable protein. Amino acids concentration and protein nutritive value of coloured potatoes were analysed and compared with traditional yellow-fleshed varieties. Studies comprised potatoes of 13 varieties: 7 of purple-fleshed, four of red-fleshed and two of yellow-fleshed. There were observed differences between studied potatoes with respect to dry matter, starch and protein content as well as to amino acids concentration and protein quality independently on flesh colour. Potatoes of low as well of high content of total protein, independently on flesh colour, characterised similar protein quality, like for example varieties of Blaue Anneliese and Highland B. Red or Blue Congo and Salad Blue. Leucine limited the quality of majority of coloured fleshed potato varieties used for the experiment. The best amino acid profiles and protein quality confirmed by chemical scores and EAA index values characterised purple fleshed Vitelotte and Blaue Anneliese, yellow fleshed Verdi as well as red fleshed Herbie 26, Highland B. Red and Rosemarie.

Water stress in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) causes considerable losses in yield, and therefore, potato is often considered to be a drought sensitive crop. Identification of water deficit tolerant potato genotypes is an adaptation strategy to mitigate the climatic changes that are occurring in the Cundiboyacense region in Colombia. Previous studies have evaluated potato plants under water stress conditions using physiological analyses. However, these methodologies require considerable amounts of time and plant material to perform these measurements. This study evaluated and compared the physiological and spectral traits between two genotypes, Diacol Capiro and Perla Negra under two drought levels (10 and 15 days without irrigation from flowering). Reflectance information was used to calculate indexes which were associated with the physiological behavior in plants. The results showed that spectral information was correlated (ρ < 0.0001) with physiological variables such as foliar area (FA), total water content (H2Ot), relative growth rate of potato tubers (RGTtub), leaf area ratio (LAR), and foliar area index (AFI). In general, there was a higher concentration of chlorophyll under drought treatments. In addition, Perla Negra under water deficit treatments did not show significant differences in its physiological variables. Therefore, it could be considered a drought tolerant genotype because its physiological performance was not affected under water stress conditions. However, yield was affected in both genotypes after being subject to 15 days of drought. The results suggested that reflectance indexes are a useful and affordable approach for potato phenotyping to select parent and segregant populations in breeding programs.

Plant protease inhibitors are a structurally highly diverse and ubiquitous class of small proteins, which play various roles in plant development and defense against pests and pathogens. Particular isoforms inhibit in vitro proteases and other enzymes that are not their natural substrates, for example proteases that have roles in human diseases. Mature potato tubers are a rich source of several protease inhibitor families. Different cultivars have different inhibitor profiles. With the objective to explore the functional diversity of the natural diversity of potato protease inhibitors, we randomly selected and sequenced 9,600 cDNA clones originated from mature tubers of ten potato cultivars. Among these, 120 unique inhibitor cDNA clones were identified by homology searches. Eighty-eight inhibitors represented novel sequence variants of known plant protease inhibitor families. Most frequent were Kunitz-type inhibitors (KTI), potato protease inhibitors I and II (PIN), pectin methylesterase inhibitors, metallocarboxypeptidase inhibitors and defensins. Twenty-three inhibitors were functionally characterized after heterologous expression in the yeast Pichia pastoris. The purified recombinant proteins were tested for inhibitory activity on trypsin, eleven pharmacological relevant proteases and the non-proteolytic enzyme 5-lipoxygenase. Members of the KTI and PIN families inhibited pig pancreas elastase, β-Secretase, Cathepsin K, HIV-1 protease and potato 5-lipoxygenase. Our results demonstrate in vitro inhibitory diversity of small potato tuber proteins commonly known as protease inhibitors, which might have biotechnological or medical applications.

The concentration of acrylamide was measured in selected varieties of five brands of potato chips and breakfast cereals over a 5-year period. Most of the products were purchased in one locality in Canada. Samples were analysed by an isotope dilution ((13)C(3)) acrylamide method. They were extracted with water, partitioned with dichloromethane, filtered through a 5 kDa centrifuge filter, cleaned-up on HLB Oasis polymeric and Accucat mixed mode anion and cation exchange SPE columns, and analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The acrylamide concentration in potato chips varied from 106 to 4630 ng g(-1), while values in cereals varied from 50 to 347 ng g(-1). Wide variations were observed between brands, within brands over time, and between lots of the same brand. A subset of potato chip samples was analysed for in vitro antioxidant activity. No relationship was found between antioxidative capacity of potato chips and their acrylamide content.

Micronutrients are crucial to healthy growth and development, yet a large proportion of the world’s population suffers from micronutrient deficiencies. Biofortification of staple foods has tremendous potential to alleviate these deficiencies. Potato production in developing countries is increasing...

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is an important pest of potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), crops in the Ardabil region of Iran. In this research, the life-history parameters of L. decemlineata were investigated on seven potato cultivars, namely Agria, Aozonia, Diamant, Cosmus, Kondor, Morene, and Savalan, in a greenhouse at 23 ± 1° C and 55 ± 5% RH under a natural photoperiod. The results indicated that the development time of larvae was longest on Savalan (18.3 days) among the tested potato cultivars. The survival rates (egg to adult) on Savalan and Morene were significantly lower than on the other studied cultivars. L. decemlineata reared on Savalan had the lowest fecundity (286.3 eggs/female) among the tested potato cultivars. The oviposition period of females was significantly shorter on Savalan and Diamant than on Kondor, Aozonia, Morene, Agria, and Cosmus. The values of intrinsic rate of natural increase and population growth rate were lowest on Savalan (0.055 and 1.056, respectively). The generation time and doubling time were significantly longest on Savalan (69.5 and 12.7 days, respectively). Based on these results, it can be concluded that Savalan is the least suitable cultivar for L. decemlineata among the ones tested. These results can be useful in integrated management of L. decemlineata in potato fields. PMID:24794138

The genome of potato, a major global food crop, was recently sequenced. The work presented here details the integration of the potato reference genome (DM) with a new sequence-tagged site marker-based linkage map and other physical and genetic maps of potato and the closely related species tomato. Primary anchoring of the DM genome assembly was accomplished by the use of a diploid segregating population, which was genotyped with several types of molecular genetic markers to construct a new ~936 cM linkage map comprising 2469 marker loci. In silico anchoring approaches used genetic and physical maps from the diploid potato genotype RH89-039-16 (RH) and tomato. This combined approach has allowed 951 superscaffolds to be ordered into pseudomolecules corresponding to the 12 potato chromosomes. These pseudomolecules represent 674 Mb (~93%) of the 723 Mb genome assembly and 37,482 (~96%) of the 39,031 predicted genes. The superscaffold order and orientation within the pseudomolecules are closely collinear with independently constructed high density linkage maps. Comparisons between marker distribution and physical location reveal regions of greater and lesser recombination, as well as regions exhibiting significant segregation distortion. The work presented here has led to a greatly improved ordering of the potato reference genome superscaffolds into chromosomal "pseudomolecules".

The potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), in tropical and subtropical countries, is the most destructive pest of potato, Solanum tuberosum L. The larvae attack foliage and tubers in the field and in storage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a Bt-cry5 transgene to control the potato tuber moth in tuber tissues. Tuber bioassays using stored (11-12 mo old) and newly harvested tubers of Bt-cry5-Lemhi Russet and Bt-cry5-Atlantic potato lines showed up to 100% mortality of 1st instars. Mortality was lowest in the newly harvested tubers of Bt-cry5-Atlantic lines (47.1-67.6%). Potato tuber moth mortality was 100% in the Bt-cry5-Spunta lines that were transformed with Bt-cry5 gene controlled by the CaMV 35S promoter (pBIML5 vector) and in 2 of 3 lines transformed with Bt-cry5 gene controlled by the Gelvin super promoter (pBIML1 vector). The transgenic Spunta lines expressing Bt-cry5 controlled by the patatin promoter (pBMIL2 vector) showed the lowest tuber moth mortality (25.6 and 31.1%). The Bt-cry5 transgenic lines with high tuber expression of B. thuringiensis have value in an integrated pest management system to control potato tuber moth.

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is an important pest of potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), crops in the Ardabil region of Iran. In this research, the life-history parameters of L. decemlineata were investigated on seven potato cultivars, namely Agria, Aozonia, Diamant, Cosmus, Kondor, Morene, and Savalan, in a greenhouse at 23 ± 1° C and 55 ± 5% RH under a natural photoperiod. The results indicated that the development time of larvae was longest on Savalan (18.3 days) among the tested potato cultivars. The survival rates (egg to adult) on Savalan and Morene were significantly lower than on the other studied cultivars. L. decemlineata reared on Savalan had the lowest fecundity (286.3 eggs/female) among the tested potato cultivars. The oviposition period of females was significantly shorter on Savalan and Diamant than on Kondor, Aozonia, Morene, Agria, and Cosmus. The values of intrinsic rate of natural increase and population growth rate were lowest on Savalan (0.055 and 1.056, respectively). The generation time and doubling time were significantly longest on Savalan (69.5 and 12.7 days, respectively). Based on these results, it can be concluded that Savalan is the least suitable cultivar for L. decemlineata among the ones tested. These results can be useful in integrated management of L. decemlineata in potato fields.

The genome of potato, a major global food crop, was recently sequenced. The work presented here details the integration of the potato reference genome (DM) with a new sequence-tagged site marker−based linkage map and other physical and genetic maps of potato and the closely related species tomato. Primary anchoring of the DM genome assembly was accomplished by the use of a diploid segregating population, which was genotyped with several types of molecular genetic markers to construct a new ~936 cM linkage map comprising 2469 marker loci. In silico anchoring approaches used genetic and physical maps from the diploid potato genotype RH89-039-16 (RH) and tomato. This combined approach has allowed 951 superscaffolds to be ordered into pseudomolecules corresponding to the 12 potato chromosomes. These pseudomolecules represent 674 Mb (~93%) of the 723 Mb genome assembly and 37,482 (~96%) of the 39,031 predicted genes. The superscaffold order and orientation within the pseudomolecules are closely collinear with independently constructed high density linkage maps. Comparisons between marker distribution and physical location reveal regions of greater and lesser recombination, as well as regions exhibiting significant segregation distortion. The work presented here has led to a greatly improved ordering of the potato reference genome superscaffolds into chromosomal “pseudomolecules”. PMID:24062527

The antioxidant content and the antioxidant capacity of both hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant extracts from four "early potato" cultivars, grown in two different locations (Racale and Monteroni), were examined. There was a considerable variation in carotenoid content and weak differences in the ascorbic acid concentration of the examined cultivars of "early potato" and between the harvested locations. An increase in both methanol/water (8:2 v/v) and phosphate buffer soluble (PBS) free phenols (70%) and bound phenols (28%) in the extracts from the cultivars grown at Racale site was found and discussed. Examination of individual phenols revealed that chlorogenic acid and catechin were the major phenols present in potato tuber extracts; a moderate amount of caffeic acid and ferulic acid was also detected. The total equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) was higher in the Racale extracts and a highly positive linear relationship ( R (2) = 0.8193) between TEAC values and total phenolic content was observed. The oxyradical scavenging capacity (TOSC) of methanol/water and PBS extracts of peel and whole potatoes against the reactive oxygen species (ROS) peroxyl radicals, peroxynitrite, and hydroxyl radicals was also analyzed. A highly significant linear correlation ( R (2) = 0.9613) between total antioxidant capacity (as a sum of peroxyl radicals + peroxynitrite) and total phenol content of methanol/water extracts was established. Moreover, proliferation of human mammalian cancer (MCF-7) cells was significantly inhibited in a dose-dependent manner after exposure to potato extracts. These data can be useful for "early potato" tuber characterization and suggest that the "early potato" has a potential as a dietary source of antioxidants.

Pigmented potatoes contain high concentrations of antioxidants including phenolic acids, anthocyanins and carotenoids; these bioactives have been implicated in the inhibition or prevention of cellular oxidative damage and chronic disease susceptibility. We studied the effects of pigmented potato c...

Describes how the interrelation of the potato beetle, the buffalo-bur, and the potato is used as an introduction to ecology. Methods of controlling the beetle and ecological principles illustrated in the interrelationship are discussed. (JN)

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method was developed for determination of thiabendazole (TBZ) residues in or on whole, unwashed white potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas). TBZ is extracted from the potato homogenate with ethyl acetate and the extract purified and concentrated on a cation-exchange, solid-phase extraction column. The extract is analyzed for TBZ residues by column LC with a cation-exchange column and fluorescence detection. Recoveries of TBZ from whole white potatoes fortified with TBZ at 0.05-20 ppm and from whole sweet potatoes fortified with TBZ at 0.005-0.1 ppm averaged 100 and 94%, respectively. The method is also applicable for quantitation of TBZ residues in white potato waste (dried peel) used as an animal feed additive. The present method for monitoring TBZ residues in white and sweet potatoes and white potato waste (dried peel) is simple, rapid, and sensitive.

Describes how the interrelation of the potato beetle, the buffalo-bur, and the potato is used as an introduction to ecology. Methods of controlling the beetle and ecological principles illustrated in the interrelationship are discussed. (JN)

Potato production is one of the most important agricultural sectors, and it is challenged by various detrimental factors, including virus infections. To control losses in potato production, knowledge about the virus—plant interactions is crucial. Here, we investigated the molecular processes in potato plants as a result of Potato virus Y (PVY) infection, the most economically important potato viral pathogen. We performed an integrative study that links changes in the metabolome and gene expression in potato leaves inoculated with the mild PVYN and aggressive PVYNTN isolates, for different times through disease development. At the beginning of infection (1 day post-inoculation), virus-infected plants showed an initial decrease in the concentrations of metabolites connected to sugar and amino-acid metabolism, the TCA cycle, the GABA shunt, ROS scavangers, and phenylpropanoids, relative to the control plants. A pronounced increase in those metabolites was detected at the start of the strong viral multiplication in infected leaves. The alterations in these metabolic pathways were also seen at the gene expression level, as analysed by quantitative PCR. In addition, the systemic response in the metabolome to PVY infection was analysed. Systemic leaves showed a less-pronounced response with fewer metabolites altered, while phenylpropanoid-associated metabolites were strongly accumulated. There was a more rapid onset of accumulation of ROS scavengers in leaves inoculated with PVYN than those inoculated with PVYNTN. This appears to be related to the lower damage observed for leaves of potato infected with the milder PVYN strain, and at least partially explains the differences between the phenotypes observed. PMID:26727123

Potato production is one of the most important agricultural sectors, and it is challenged by various detrimental factors, including virus infections. To control losses in potato production, knowledge about the virus-plant interactions is crucial. Here, we investigated the molecular processes in potato plants as a result of Potato virus Y (PVY) infection, the most economically important potato viral pathogen. We performed an integrative study that links changes in the metabolome and gene expression in potato leaves inoculated with the mild PVYN and aggressive PVYNTN isolates, for different times through disease development. At the beginning of infection (1 day post-inoculation), virus-infected plants showed an initial decrease in the concentrations of metabolites connected to sugar and amino-acid metabolism, the TCA cycle, the GABA shunt, ROS scavangers, and phenylpropanoids, relative to the control plants. A pronounced increase in those metabolites was detected at the start of the strong viral multiplication in infected leaves. The alterations in these metabolic pathways were also seen at the gene expression level, as analysed by quantitative PCR. In addition, the systemic response in the metabolome to PVY infection was analysed. Systemic leaves showed a less-pronounced response with fewer metabolites altered, while phenylpropanoid-associated metabolites were strongly accumulated. There was a more rapid onset of accumulation of ROS scavengers in leaves inoculated with PVYN than those inoculated with PVYNTN. This appears to be related to the lower damage observed for leaves of potato infected with the milder PVYN strain, and at least partially explains the differences between the phenotypes observed.

Ethylene response factors (ERFs) are unique to the plant kingdom and play crucial roles in plant response to various biotic and abiotic stresses. We show here that a potato StERF3, which contains an ERF-associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motif in its C-terminal region, negatively regulates resistance to Phytophthora infestans and salt tolerance in potato. The StERF3 promoter responds to induction by salicylic acid, ABA ethylene and NaCl, as well as P. infestans, the causal agent of potato late blight disease. StERF3 could bind to the GCC box element of the HIS3 promoter and activate transcription of HIS3 in yeast cells. Importantly, silencing of StERF3 in potato produced an enhanced foliage resistance to P. infestans and elevated plant tolerance to NaCl stress accompanied by the activation of defense-related genes (PR1, NPR1 and WRKY1). In contrast, StERF3-overexpressing plants showed reduced expression of these defense-related genes and enhanced susceptibility to P. infestans, suggesting that StERF3 functions as a negative regulator of downstream defense- and/or stress-related genes in potato. StERF3 is localized to the nucleus. Interestingly, yeast two-hybrid assay and a bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) test clarified that StERF3 could interact with other proteins in the cytoplasm which may lead to its re-localization between the nucleus and cytoplasm, revealing a novel means of StERF3 regulation. Taken together, these data provide new insights into the mechanism underlying how StERF3 negatively regulates late blight resistance and abiotic tolerance in potato and may have a potential use in engineering late blight resistance in potato.

Background Phytophthora infestans, causing late blight in potato, remains one of the most devastating pathogens in potato production and late blight resistance is a top priority in potato breeding. The introduction of multiple resistance (R) genes with different spectra from crossable species into potato varieties is required. Cisgenesis is a promising approach that introduces native genes from the crops own gene pool using GM technology, thereby retaining favourable characteristics of established varieties. Results We pursued a cisgenesis approach to introduce two broad spectrum potato late blight R genes, Rpi-sto1 and Rpi-vnt1.1 from the crossable species Solanum stoloniferum and Solanum venturii, respectively, into three different potato varieties. First, single R gene-containing transgenic plants were produced for all varieties to be used as references for the resistance levels and spectra to be expected in the respective genetic backgrounds. Next, a construct containing both cisgenic late blight R genes (Rpi-vnt1.1 and Rpi-sto1), but lacking the bacterial kanamycin resistance selection marker (NPTII) was transformed to the three selected potato varieties using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Gene transfer events were selected by PCR among regenerated shoots. Through further analyses involving morphological evaluations in the greenhouse, responsiveness to Avr genes and late blight resistance in detached leaf assays, the selection was narrowed down to eight independent events. These cisgenic events were selected because they showed broad spectrum late blight resistance due to the activity of both introduced R genes. The marker-free transformation was compared to kanamycin resistance assisted transformation in terms of T-DNA and vector backbone integration frequency. Also, differences in regeneration time and genotype dependency were evaluated. Conclusions We developed a marker-free transformation pipeline to select potato plants functionally expressing a

Early blight of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), caused by Alternaria solani, is a major cause of economic losses in many potato growing regions. We have identified two early blight resistant clones EB24-24 and EB24-3, which are hybrids between the cultivated (S. tuberosum) potato clone US-W4 (2x=24) ...

Potato peels and other low-value wastes from potato processing are currently being used as cattle feed or fermented to produce fuel-grade ethanol. The anaerobic fermentation of food wastes, including potato processing wastes, produces biogas (principally methane), which can be used directly for heat...

Iron deficiency in humans occurs in all regions of the world. Potatoes are a modest source of iron. The purpose of this study was to determine if genetic variation for potato tuber iron content exists. Iron content in potato was measured in 33 clones, including varieties and advanced breeding sele...

Potatoes are the 4th biggest food crop worldwide and the leading vegetable crop in the U.S., accounting for 15 percent of vegetable sales. Over 50% of potatoes are consumed as processed products such as French fries and chips. Zebra Chip (ZC) is a disease of potatoes that causes brown discoloration ...

Managing zebra chip disease in the potato growing regions of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho is complicated by confusion about the geographic source of the insect vector (potato psyllid) as it colonizes potato fields in these growing regions. Not knowing the source of the vector makes it difficult fo...

Zebra Chip (ZC), a new and emerging disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in southwestern US, México, and Central America, is causing losses of millions of dollars to the potato industry. Recently, this damaging potato disease was also documented in New Zealand. Recent studies conducted in US and...

... harvest or the typical storage period. Percentage factor. The term as defined in the Northern Potato Quality Endorsement. Processor. Any business enterprise regularly engaged in processing potatoes for human... Potato Quality Endorsement will automatically result in cancellation of this endorsement; (2) This...

... harvest or the typical storage period. Percentage factor. The term as defined in the Northern Potato Quality Endorsement. Processor. Any business enterprise regularly engaged in processing potatoes for human... Potato Quality Endorsement will automatically result in cancellation of this endorsement; (2) This...

... harvest or the typical storage period. Percentage factor. The term as defined in the Northern Potato Quality Endorsement. Processor. Any business enterprise regularly engaged in processing potatoes for human... Potato Quality Endorsement will automatically result in cancellation of this endorsement; (2) This...

The dry matter content of potatoes used to make potato chips and French fries strongly influences fry oil absorption and texture of the finished product. Specific gravity (SpGr) is often used to assess the processing quality of potatoes tubers because of its strong correlation with dry matter conten...

Potato late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most devastating diseases in potatoes, causing significant loses under disease-conducive conditions. Migrations or introduction of new genotypes to a specific region impose a different set of criteria for consideration for potato gr...

The potato cyst nematodes (PCN) Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida are regulated pathogens of potato, a crop worth nearly $3.9 billion in the United States. Since the initial discovery of G. pallida in Idaho in 2006, extensive surveys of the major potato growing acreage have been carried out, to...

A survey was conducted in 39 potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) fields in Costa Rica to determine incidence and association of Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea and Potato mop-top pomovirus (PMTV). The fields were located in Costa Rica’s two major potato production regions, and were further char...

Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are a significant problem in potato (Solanum tuberosum) production. There is no known Meloidogyne resistance gene in cultivated potato, even though sources of resistance were identified in wild potato species. The objective of this study was to generate stable ...

Potato zebra chip (ZC), which is a threat to potato production in the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, and Central America, is associated with the bacterium “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum” (Cls) that is transmitted by the potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli Sulc.). ZC control currently ...

Many useful quality and disease resistance traits for potato improvement come from wild Solanum relatives. Thus, an understanding of inheritance of tuberization in hybrid populations between wild and cultivated potatoes is important for the integration of good traits from wild potatoes. Four familie...

... Control Agent for Air Potato AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of... Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) relative to the control of air potato... severity of air potato infestations. We are making the EA available to the public for review and comment...

... Service 7 CFR Part 946 Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate AGENCY: Agricultural... rate established for the State of Washington Potato Committee (Committee) for the 2011-2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally...

... Agricultural Marketing Service 7 CFR Part 946 Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate...: This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the State of Washington Potato Committee... potatoes handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of...